VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Dec. 22, 2005) - Imperial Metals Corporation (TSX:III) reports that ongoing surface and near surface exploration including mapping, prospecting, till sampling and percussion drilling at it's 100% owned Mount Polley copper/gold mine near Williams Lake, BC has outlined several new zones of mineralization. All zones are thought to be highly prospective and will be diamond drilled in 2006.
Resource modelling and mine planning have been initiated on the Wagon Wheel Zone with the intention of providing a new source of mill feed less than 300 metres form the crusher. Key exploration zones are highlighted in the following table:
Key Exploration Zones Slated for Diamond Drilling in 2006
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Best Results
Zone for 2005 Description
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Tall Fir P-05-131 Gold and copper enrichment zone at least 200 X
13.7 m @ 300 metres. Trenching and near surface
0.54% Cu percussion drilling are very encouraging.
0.33 g/t Au Adjacent and similar to the Southeast Zone
and dramatically increases the mineralized
footprint. Strong potential for successful
drilling to depth.
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Ace P-05-97 Potential southern extension of Pond Zone or
13.8 m @ the Southeast Zone.
0.12% Cu Gold mineralization intersected in over 150
0.32 g/t Au metre strike length of percussion drilling.
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Wagon P-05-48 High grade copper and gold in magnetite
Wheel 20.8 m @ breccias established in 2004. Less than 300
0.97% Cu metres to crusher. See attached Resource.
0.66 g/t Au Needs additional drilling.
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Skid P-05-13 Only limited work to date. Barren magnetite
9.8m @ breccias discovered in outcrop. Pit samples
0.30% Cu with over 1% copper. One 2005 percussion hole
0.14 g/t Au returned significant results.
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Knob East No Small discrete areas of high grade copper-gold
drilling mineralization within 1 km of Bell Pit.
Follow-up drilling is planned.
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Junction No new Large area of anomalous soil geochemical
drilling results down-ice direction from the Springer
Zone. Highly anomalous till and trenching
results.
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Zone 9 No Unexplored area with poor bedrock exposure 5
drilling km northwest of the mill hosts strongly
brecciated rock and till samples containing
well mineralized clasts have been discovered.
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71 Zone No new Surface work indicates strong hydrothermal
drilling activity in the area and very high grades from
historic drilling strongly support the need
for further drilling in this area.
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Boundary No new Work by a previous operator identified high
drilling grade copper-gold mineralization within a
magnetite breccia. Drilling has further
enhanced the zone and additional drilling
is planned.
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Wayne Visible Cu New road cut in October unearthed zone of
in road malachite staining. Two of the initial four
cut percussion holes returned weak malachite.
Assays are pending.
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Imperial has used information from the shallow 30 metre 2005 percussion drilling in the Wagon Wheel Trench Area, along with historic drilling to develop an indicated open pitable resource. Using current economic parameters, the following resource has been established using Lerch Grossman pit optimization. Further drilling is planned in order to complete engineering and to extend this mineralized zone to the south, north and depth. This mineralized zone, located south of the Cariboo Pit is within 300 metres of the primary crusher at the Mount Polley mill site.
Indicated Resource for Wagon Wheel Area(i) (Dec 19/05)
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Ore Copper (%) Gold (g/t) Oxide Ratio
408,302 0.463 0.597 0.326
(i) Using current economics - US$1.50/lb copper and
US$400/oz gold
Imperial will restart diamond drilling in January to test the numerous targets generated during the summer exploration program.
Patrick McAndless, P.Geo. is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 for the exploration program. Samples for the percussion drilling and trenching program in 2005 were analyzed at the Mount Polley Mine laboratory. A full QA/QC program using blanks, standards and duplicates was maintained for all samples submitted to the lab.
The wholly owned Mount Polley property has been the focus of continuous exploration since August 2003. The Mount Polley property mineral claims encompass 19,308 hectares located 56 kilometres northeast of Williams Lake in central British Columbia.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Imperial Metals Corporation
Brian Kynoch
President
(604) 669-8959
(604) 687-4030 (FAX)
Imperial Metals Corporation
Patrick McAndless
Vice President Exploration
(604) 488-2665
Imperial Metals Corporation
Sabine Goetz
Investor Relations
(604) 488-2657
info@imperialmetals.com
www.imperialmetals.com
