Drilling expands Mount Polley

Vancouver — Imperial Metals (III-T) has expanded copper-gold mineralization at the Mount Polley mine project, 56 km northeast of Williams Lake in central British Columbia.

The latest drill results extend the strike length of the high-grade Northeast zone to at least 500 metres in a northern direction.

Highlights are as follows:

— Hole 102 — 227 metres (at a down-hole depth of 215 metres) grading 1.11% copper, plus 0.41 gram gold and 7.5 grams silver per tonne;

— Hole 104 — 37 metres (from 81 metres down-hole) of 1.43% copper, 0.7 gram gold and 11.3 grams silver (farther down-hole, drilling intersected 116.5 metres grading 0.9% copper, 0.06 gram gold and 6.3 grams silver, and 36 metres grading 1.41% copper, 0.47 gram gold and 11.3 grams silver);

— Hole 113 — 43 metres (from 98 metres down-hole) grading 1.75% copper, 0.15 gram gold and 10.6 grams silver (assays for sections of core from between 140 and 404 metres have not yet been received).

The Northeast zone was discovered in mid-2003 through trenching, and constitutes a large portion of the project’s reserves. The 130 holes drilled into the zone to date indicate consistently high-grade copper-sulphide mineralization.

The portion of the project known as the Wight pit (modelled on the Northeast zone) has a proven and probable reserve of 6.2 million tonnes grading 0.98% copper, 0.32 gram gold and 7 grams silver.

Recent drilling intersected high-grade copper mineralization in portions of the Wight pit area that were previously modelled as waste rock, and this discovery is expected to reduce the stripping ratio of the planned open-pit operation.

Drill crews are testing the northern extent and depth potential of the Northeast zone, as well as the southern edge of the Wight pit, where some high copper grades were encountered.

Permitting should be completed in October, with production slated to resume in early 2005 from the Bell and Wight pits.

Imperial has 25.8 million shares outstanding and was trading at $7.35 at presstime.