BRITISH COLUMBIA - Vancouver-based IMPERIAL METALS CORP. has arranged to raise $20 million which will be used to complete reopening of the Mount Polley open pit copper/gold mine near Williams Lake, B.C. The amount will also cover further exploration and development of the property. Half the money will be raised by a private placement with Haywood Securities as lead agent. The remainder will be raised through a non-brokered private placement with insiders, directors, officers and employees of the company.
Imperial has updated reserve and resources estimates for Mount Polley. Total proven and probable reserves in the Wright, Bell and Springer open pits are 44 million tonnes, grading 0.45% Cu and 0.30 g/t Au. Reserves are estimated to contain 435.8 million lb of copper, 443,017 oz of gold and 1.89 million oz of silver. In addition to the open pit reserves, measured and indicated resources increased to 68.5 million tonnes, grading 0.37% Cu and 0.26 g/t Au (a copper equivalent grade of 0.57%). Inferred resources are 28 million tonnes, primarily contained in the Springer deposit, grading 0.30% Cu and 0.27 g/t Au (a copper equivalent grade of 0.55%).
Milling operations at Mount Polley are scheduled to begin on March 2, 2005, with initial feed coming from the Bell pit and low-grade stockpiles. Ore from the Wright pit is scheduled for delivery to the mill in July. Visit www.ImperialMetals.com for more information.
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