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| | May 08, 2006
Imperial Reports First Quarter Production for Mount Polley and Huckleberry Mines
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Vancouver (May 8, 2006) - Imperial Metals Corporation (III-TSX) reports first quarter production for its Mount Polley and Huckleberry mines. The Company's First Quarter Report is scheduled for release on May 15, 2006 and will be available on the Company's website: www.imperialmetals.com.
Mount Polley
Mount Polley mine production for the three months ended March 31, 2006 compared to December 31, 2005 is as follows:
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(unaudited) Three Months Ended Three Months Ended
March 31, 2006 December 31, 2005
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Ore milled (tonnes) 1,532,260 1,477,020
Ore milled per
calendar day (tonnes) 17,025 16,055
Grade % - Copper 0.412 0.449
Grade g/t - Gold 0.249 0.255
Recovery % - Copper 82.07 82.66
Recovery % - Gold 65.72 69.56
Copper produced (lbs) 11,421,180 12,076,569
Gold produced (oz) 8,076 8,399
Silver produced (oz) 89,687 97,411
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Ore milled per calendar day increased to 17,025 tonnes from 16,055 tonnes in the 2005 fourth quarter. The rate achieved was approximately 3% less than the winter weather target rate of 17,500 tonnes per day. Mill throughput in March exceeded 20,000 tonnes per day for 17 days, achieving 19,150 tonnes mined from the per calendar day for the month.
Fewer tonnes than planned were mined from the high grade portions of the Wight Pit in the 2006 first quarter. To increase the available tonnes from the high grade portion of the Wight Pit, one P&H 2100 shovel is being moved from the Bell Pit to the Wight Pit, resulting in two shovels operating in the Wight Pit and one in the Bell Pit.
Huckleberry
Huckleberry mine production for the three months ended March 31, 2006 compared to March 31, 2005 is provided below.
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(100% - Imperial owns 50%) Three Months Ended Three Months Ended
(unaudited) March 31, 2006 December 31, 2005
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Ore milled (tonnes) 1,659,900 1,692,700
Ore milled per
calendar day (tonnes) 18,444 18,807
Ore milled per
operating day (tonnes) 19,943 21,107
Grade (%) - Copper 0.560 0.542
Grade (%) - Molybdenum 0.014 0.014
Recovery (%) - Copper 85.9 87.7
Recovery (%) - Molybdenum 22.3 26.6
Copper produced (lbs) 17,615,000 17,748,000
Molybdenum produced (lbs) 114,881 135,567
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Exploration Update
In the Boundary Zone at Mount Polley, silver assays pending from the previously reported (ref: NR May 1, 2006) five holes drilled, were received and are provided in the following table. The silver grades encountered in the Boundary Zone are similar to grades being mined in the nearby Wight Pit.
Boundary Zone
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Inter- Inter- Inter-
Drill Total val val val Cop- Sil-
Hole Azi- Length from to Length per Gold ver
# muth Dip (m) (m) (m) (m) % g/t g/t
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ND06-05 0° -90° 185.6 102.6 - 141.8 39.2 0.90 0.68 5.72
and 152.7 - 172.5 19.8 0.61 0.69 3.79
ND06-06 0° -90° 150.6 4.9 - 13.6 8.7 1.13 2.25 7.65
and 40.0 - 62.5 22.5 0.37 0.40 2.86
and 77.5 - 112.3 34.8 0.98 1.12 6.49
ND06-07 0° -90° 143.0 3.1 - 15.0 11.9 0.55 2.12 3.61
and 75.1 - 100.1 25.0 1.51 2.56 8.92
including 82.5 - 87.5 5.0 3.75 8.42 21.70
ND06-08 0° -90° 181.7 50.0 - 102.1 52.1 0.49 0.54 3.65
and 130.1 - 144.6 14.5 0.67 0.92 4.17
ND06-09 0° -90° 384.4 46.6 - 52.8 6.2 1.02 0.55 6.87
and 97.6 - 139.3 41.6 0.56 0.42 3.56
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Patrick McAndless, P.Geo. is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 for the exploration program. Samples for the current diamond drilling program 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. Silver analysis was completed at Acme Analytical Laboratory in Vancouver.
At Huckleberry, a program of twelve diamond drill holes is underway in the Main Zone Extension. The program is designed to provide geotechnical information for pit slope design, to fill in gaps in the current block model of the zone, and to expand the zone to the west. No drill results have been received to date. The zone is currently estimated to contain a mineable resource of about 13 million tonnes, and the extension could provide a source of mill feed to extend the mine life by about two years.
Imperial is a mine development and operating mining company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Company's key properties are the Mount Polley open pit copper/gold producing mine (100% interest) in central British Columbia, the Huckleberry open pit copper/molybdenum producing mine (50% interest) in northern British Columbia, and the development stage Sterling gold mine (100% interest) in southwest Nevada.
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For further information contact:
Brian Kynoch, President - 604.669.8959;
Patrick McAndless, Vice President Exploration - 604.488.2665; or
Sabine Goetz, Investor Relations - 604.488.2657 / info@imperialmetals.com
News Release in PDF Format
Mount Polley Assay Results
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You can view the Next News Release 2006 item: Mon May 15, 2006, Imperial Reports Results for the First Quarter 2006
You can view the Previous News Release 2006 item: Mon May 1, 2006, Imperial Reports High Grade Results in Boundary Zone
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