Red Chris





Imperial's wholly owned Red Chris copper/gold property is located 80 km south of Dease Lake in Tahltan traditional territory in northwest British Columbia. Access to the site is 20 km from Highway 37.

Imperial is working towards development of a 30,000 ton per day open pit mine to commence operations upon completion of the Northwest Transmission Line [www.highway37.com]. Red Chris anticipates being able to connect to the Northwest Transmission Line at the Bob Quinn hydro station approx. 120 km from the proposed mill site by early 2014. Provincial and Federal environmental approvals for the project have been received. Mines Act permitting through the Northwest Mine Development Review Committee is underway.

In November 2010 Imperial completed an update of the Red Chris Copper-Gold Project Feasibility Study Report dated March 2005 ("2005 Feasibility"). The Red Chris 2010 Feasibility Study Update ("2010 Update") is intended to guide development of the project within its current Provincial and Federal Approval framework and does not take into account the results of deep drilling carried out by Imperial. The 2010 Update uses the mining envelope, mining rate and metal recovery estimates used in the 2005 Feasibility.

The block model was updated in a January 2012 Technical Report ("2012 Report") and a new resource statement was published on February 2, 2012. Prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, the 2012 Report detailing the new resource and restating the feasibility study will be available on this website and on www.sedar.com www.sedar.com..

Highlights of 2010 Update
  • Reserves of over 300 million tonnes grading 0.359% copper and 0.274 g/t gold provide for a 28 year project life at a milling rate of 30,000 tonnes per day.
  • Pre production period of only four months during which 1.8 million tonnes of rock and overburden would be relocated. The Red Chris orebody is exposed at surface resulting in a comparatively limited pre production phase.
  • Recovered metal in concentrate would total 2.08 billion lbs copper and 1.324 million oz gold.
  • After tax IRR of 15.7% at metal prices of US$2.20/lb copper, US$900/oz gold, US$12.00/oz silver, and exchange rate of CDN$1 to US$0.90. Project payback is 4.58 years. Life of mine production cost per pound of copper at these prices, taking silver and gold as credit, is US$1.22. Capital cost is C$443 million.
  • At the October 2010 monthly average metal prices of US$3.76/lb copper, US$1342.60/oz gold, US$23.39/oz silver, and an exchange rate of CDN$1 to US$0.982, the project IRR after tax is 37.9%. The project payback is 1.87 years. Life of mine production cost per pound of copper at these prices, taking silver and gold as credit, is US$1.15.
  • The planned pit is approx. 1.8 km long and up to 1,000 metres wide with two main zones: the Main zone and the East zone.

Mineable Reserves and Mineral Resources

The mineable reserves estimate in the 2010 Update, for the pit shell designed in 2005, are provided below, and are all contained within the upper portion of Main and East zones.

  Tonnes Cu % Au g/t
Proven and Probable 301,549,000 0.359 0.274


The 2012 Report outlines a 103% increase in the mineral resource in Red Chris property. The resource for copper equivalent cut-off grades of 0.1% to 0.3% are provided in the tables below. The estimated resources at different categories and cut-offs are provided in the attachment "Updated Mineral Resource Tables" at the bottom of this page, and are documented in the 2012 Report which includes a full description of the estimation method and the sampling, assaying and QA/QC procedures.

2012 measured + indicated mineral resources (Copper Equivalent Cut-Off)
CuEq Cut-Off Tonnes CuEq % Copper % Gold g/t Silver g/t lbs Copper oz Gold oz Silver
>=0.1 1,260,268,288 0.506 0.320 0.319 1.101 8,896,396,672 12,909,215 44,610,942
>=0.2 1,218,017,664 0.517 0.327 0.327 1.114 8,778,055,255 12,801,462 43,624,437
>=0.3 936,210,496 0.598 0.374 0.385 1.224 7,710,990,648 11,573,399 36,842,236


2012 inferred mineral resources (Copper Equivalent Cut-Off)
CuEq Cut-Off Tonnes CuEq % Copper % Gold g/t Silver g/t lbs Copper oz Gold oz Silver
>=0.1 1,658,879,360 0.357 0.218 0.239 0.882 7,968,963,487 12,752,210 47,040,773
>=0.2 1,216,387,328 0.441 0.271 0.292 1.020 7,275,309,676 11,407,734 39,889,916
>=0.3 871,156,032 0.518 0.315 0.349 1.138 6,047,813,802 9,760,898 31,873,465


The copper equivalent estimate was based on copper and gold values and metal prices. No provision was made for metallurgical recoveries for the metals. The formula used to calculate copper equivalent values is:

CuEq = [Cu% + (Au g/t *0.583)]: using US$3.00/lb copper price & US$1,200/oz gold price

The mineral resource estimate was prepared internally by Art Frye, Mine Operations Manager, Mount Polley mine, and Greg Gillstrom, P.Eng, Senior Geological Engineer, Imperial Metals Corporation. Mr. Gillstrom is designated as the Qualified Person as defined under 43-101 for the resource calculation.

Drilling indicates the deposit is still open for expansion both laterally and vertically, and the adjacent Gully and Far West are two of the exploration targets which may also host significant near-surface copper/gold mineralization.

For additional information, refer to the Company's Quarter Reports, Annual Information Form, or the following technical reports:
 

*refer to cautionary note