Imperial drills Mt. Polley

Vancouver — Looking to reinvigorate the dormant Mount Polley copper-gold mine in British Columbia, owner Imperial Metals (III-T) has a drill rig turning on a newly discovered zone, some 1.5 km northeast of the Bell pit.

Dubbed the Northeast zone, the high-grade find has been outlined on surface over a 140-by-70-metre area. A newly completed trenching program yielded up to 1.03% copper and 0.42 gram gold per tonne over 54 metres.

Located near Williams Lake, the Mount Polley mine was put on care and maintenance back in September 2001 due to historically low copper prices. Construction of the mine was completed in June 1997 after a subsidiary of Japan-based Sumitomo acquired a 45% interest in the project by agreeing to loan the project $54 million. Capital cost for construction came in at $123.5 million.

Then, in July 1999, Imperial sold another 2.5% interest to Sumitomo for US$875,000 to meet ongoing financial obligations. By 2000, Imperial had reacquired the 47.5% interest for $4.5 million in cash.

In total, 27.7 million tonnes of ore grading 0.56 gram gold per tonne and 0.33% copper were processed from the Cariboo and Bell Pits. In 2000, the operation produced 34.2 million lbs. copper and 83,000 oz. gold.

The remaining probable reserves from the Springer and Bell pits at Sept. 30, 2001, tallied 31.9 million tonnes grading 0.36% copper and 0.34 gram gold. There is also 2.7 million tonnes grading 0.22% copper and 0.31 gram gold, plus another 200,000 tonnes grading 0.29% copper and 0.42 gram gold sitting in a stockpile for future processing.