International Minerals completes Rio Blanco drilling

Vancouver – Enroute to producing an updated resource figure in its ongoing feasibility study, International Minerals (IMZ-T) has completed definition drilling on the wholly-owned Rio Blanco gold-silver project in south-central Ecuador.

The final eleven holes, totaling some 2,200 metres, continued to target the high-grade epithermal Alejandra Vein, returning further gold and silver values.

A total of almost 15,000 metres in 79 holes has been completed in the 2004 definition and in-fill program. Some of the latest results include:

• Hole BC-142 Drilling intersected 35.5 metres (from 194.5 metres) grading 6.9 grams gold per tonne and 50 grams silver per tonne, including high-grade sections of 8.5 metres of 23.6 grams gold and 154 grams silver, and 4.3 metres of 30 grams gold and 207 grams silver;
• Hole BC-143 A 27.2 metre section of the Alejandra Vein (from 175 metres) assayed 4 grams gold and 32 grams silver, including 11.4 metres of 6.3 grams gold and 47 grams silver and 2.8 metres of 9 grams gold and 64 grams silver;
• Hole BC-144 A 6.4 metre intercept (from 262 metres) averaged 10.2 grams gold and 71 grams silver, including 1.5 metres of 38.2 grams gold and 241 grams silver.

The low-sulphidation, gold-silver mineralized Alejandra Vein is a complex vein-breccia structure that has been drill-traced for over 500 metres east-west. The structure averages about 6 metres in width with mineralization extending from surface to 300 metres depth.

A preliminary assessment study completed in 2003 indicated strong economics for the high-grade Alejandra North zone with an inferred resource of 744,000 tonnes grading 18.3 grams gold and 146 grams silver (containing 438,000 ounces gold and 3.5 million ounces of silver). Rio Blanco has an overall inferred resource of 5 million tonnes of 5.5 grams gold and 42 grams silver (881,000 ounces gold and 6.7 million ounces of silver) contained in the Alejandro North and South and Dorada zones.

International Minerals has other gold projects in Ecuador and Peru and completed a $22.3 million financing in early-2004. The company reports 79.7-million shares outstanding, giving a market capitalization of $343-million based on its recent trading level of $4.30 per share.