VANCOUVER,
BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Feb. 18,
2009) - Imperial Metals Corporation (TSX:III) reports results from the
initial phase of the follow-up drill program designed to explore the
depth extent of the Red Chris copper/gold deposit in northwest British
Columbia. Three holes totaling 2,220 metres
have so far been drilled in the East zone to follow up on 2007 drill
hole 07-335 which returned 1,024.1 metres
grading 1.01% copper, 1.26 g/t gold and 3.92 g/t silver.
Drilling to depth has been difficult and only hole
RC08-343 was successful in penetrating into the target area below
previously known mineralization. RC08-343 was collared approximately 165 metres to
the northwest of 07-335
in an area known from previous drilling to be
barren near surface. Drill hole RC08-343 intersected the mineralized
zone at 840.3
metres, returning 362.2 metres
grading 0.40% copper, 0.53 g/t gold and 1.27 g/t silver, including a 97.5 metre
interval of 0.63% copper, 0.96 g/t gold and 1.89 g/t silver. A snapped
drill rod resulted in the hole not reaching the target depth of 1,500 metres,
however the hole was drilled into an area well to the north of the core
mineralization of the East zone and is intended to act as a stem hole
which can be used to spur off navigational drill holes which will cut
across the deeper portions of the mineralization. The 1,273.2 metre
final depth will serve that purpose.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drill Total Interval Interval Interval Copper Gold Silver Hole # Zone Length (m) from (m) To (m) Length (m) % g/t g/t RC08-341 East 435.0 82.5 435.0 352.5 0.68 0.64 2.65 RC08-342 East 511.8 107.5 511.8 404.3 0.55 0.48 3.72 175.0 270.0 95.0 1.03 0.87 8.13 460.0 511.8 51.8 0.60 0.58 4.30 RD08-343 East 1273.2 840.3 1202.5 362.2 0.40 0.53 1.27 842.5 940.0 97.5 0.63 0.96 1.89 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drill holes RC08-341 and RC08-342 were
collared about 90
metres to the east of 07-335 and returned
excellent grades over the entire length drilled but were lost prior to
reaching their target depth of 1,500 metres
due to drilling difficulty. Further drilling is planned for 2009.
Steve Robertson, PGeo. is
the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 for the
exploration program at Red Chris. Samples for the diamond drilling
reported at Red Chris were analyzed at Acme Analytical Laboratories in Vancouver. A full
QA/QC program using blanks, standards and duplicates was maintained for
all samples submitted to the labs. The deeper portion of the Red Chris
porphyry mineralization is in the early stage of exploration and may be
irregular in shape so true thicknesses have not been estimated. A
section, drill plan map, and drill assay table will be available on
Imperial's website.
The Red Chris property in northern British
Columbia is situated 18 kilometres
southeast of the village
of Iskut.
Access to the property from pavement at Highway 37 is six kilometres
along the Ealue Lake Road, and 17 kilometres
along the newly constructed Red Chris access road.
Imperial is a mine development and operating company based in Vancouver, British
Columbia. The Company's key properties are
the Mount Polley open pit copper/gold
producing mine in central British Columbia, the Huckleberry open pit
copper/molybdenum producing mine in northern British Columbia, the
development stage Red Chris property in northwest British Columbia, and
the exploration stage Sterling gold property in southwest Nevada.
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