SOURCE: International Minerals Corporation
June 24, 2008 08:30 ET
International Minerals Reports High-Grade Drill Results at Rio Blanco Project, Ecuador, Including 2.2m at 30.8 g/t and 3.6m at 12.1 g/t Gold
SCOTTSDALE, AZ--(Marketwire - June 24, 2008) - International Minerals Corporation (TSX: IMZ) (SWX: IMZ) reports high-grade drill results (including 2.2 meters
("m") at 30.8 grammes per tonne (g/t) gold from veins within the western
part of the Bolivar Zone at its 100%-held Rio Blanco gold-silver project in
Ecuador.
The east-west trending vein system in the Bolivar Zone (see attached map)
is approximately 1.5km in strike length and is located only 350m north of
the Alejandra North vein, where a proposed underground mining operation is
currently in the permitting stage, with approval of such permits pending
the implementation of a proposed new mining law in Ecuador (see IMZ news
releases dated April 22, 2008 and April 25, 2008 for further details).
IMZ has received assay results from 35 additional core holes (totaling
9,736m) from the Bolivar Zone. Highlights of the drill results in the
Bolivar West area (all uncut assays and estimated true widths) include:
-- 3.2m grading 9.0 grams/tonne ("g/t') gold and 235 g/t silver in drill-
hole BC380
-- 3.6m grading 8.6 g/t gold and 78 g/t silver in drill-hole BC391
-- 3.6m grading 12.1 g/t gold and 52 g/t silver in drill-hole BC394
-- 2.2m grading 30.8 g/t gold and 531 g/t silver in drill-hole BC402
Significant drill intercepts from all of the recent drill holes in the
Bolivar Zone are shown in Appendix 1 attached.
The Bolivar West area covers approximately 500m of the known 1.5km strike
length of the vein system in the Bolivar Zone and mineralization remains
open to the west and at depth. These new drill results show that the
mineralization is continuous across multiple drill cross-sections and is in
relatively close proximity to the planned underground development for the
proposed Alejandra North mine. A resource estimate to define an initial
inferred resource for the Bolivar West area is expected to be announced in
the third calendar quarter of 2008.
To date at Rio Blanco, IMZ has estimated Proven and Probable Reserves for
the Alejandra North deposit of 605,000 ounces of gold and 4.3 million
ounces of silver contained within 2.15 million tonnes at average grades of
8.8 g/t gold and 62 g/t silver as shown in the table below (also see IMZ
news release dated October 12, 2006 and the related NI 43-101 Technical
Report for further details).
Gold Silver
Grade Contained Grade Contained
Reserve Category Tonnes (g/t) Ounces (g/t) Ounces
Proven 142,560 10.8 49,000 90 410,000
Probable 2,004,888 8.6 555,000 60 3,896,000
Proven and Probable 2,147,448 8.8 605,000 62 4,307,000
The mineral reserves are estimated using a 4 g/t gold cut-off and a $475/oz
gold price. Numbers are rounded to reflect the precision of a reserve
estimate.
The drilling program at Rio Blanco is currently on hold due to the April
18, 2008 Ecuadorian government's Mining Mandate, which temporarily
suspended all exploration activity in Ecuador for a period of up to six
months, pending the implementation of a new mining law.
Drilling was carried out by Paragon Drilling Ecuador S.A. (now owned by
Major Drilling), of Cuenca, Ecuador. Sample preparation was carried out by
ALS Chemex in Quito, Ecuador using standard industry practices. Analytical
work was carried out at the ALS Chemex laboratory in Lima, Peru, using
conventional fire assay methods for gold and silver. For quality control
purposes, analytical standards with known metal values were included with
IMZ's samples sent to ALS Chemex and show good reproducibility. The overall
drilling program was supervised by IMZ's Qualified Person, Technical
Manager Nick Appleyard, who reviewed the technical disclosure in this
release.
Antabamba Project, Peru
The Antabamba silver-gold property is located in southern Peru,
approximately 65km northeast of the Pallancata silver mine, jointly owned
by IMZ (40%) and Hochschild Mining plc (60%). Based on a thorough
evaluation of the drill results from the last core drilling program,
carried out in October 2007, IMZ has decided to return the Antabamba
property to its joint venture partner and property owner, the Peruvian
subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corporation. IMZ's drilling program identified
high-grade, but narrow, mineralized zones (shoots) within the known veins
on the property and management considers that the overall potential to
develop significant tonnage and ounces is limited.
Appendix 1: Rio Blanco Project, Ecuador - Bolivar Zone Drill Results (All
Values Uncut)
Drill Hole Number From To Intercept Gold Silver True
(depth-m) (m) (m) (m) (g/t) (g/t) Width (m)
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-366 (465.6m) 364.8 365.5 0.7 6.6 5 0.6
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-369 (176.2m) 87.4 93.0 5.6 4.1 84 3.9
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
156.9 157.9 1.0 6.3 107 0.9
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-370 (240.0m) 222.7 224.9 2.2 6.9 20 2.0
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-371 (392.7m) 287.5 288.1 0.7 8.9 39 0.6
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-374 (173.3m) 75.8 76.7 1.0 15.5 385 0.9
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-375 (285.9m) 266.1 267.7 1.5 16.0 25 1.4
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-380 (240.2m) 74.5 77.7 3.2 9.0 235 3.2
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Includes 75.1 75.6 0.5 18.4 155 0.5
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-381 (386.8m) 272.0 274.5 2.5 3.2 10 2.3
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
289.2 290.8 1.6 4.6 14 1.5
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
298.6 299.8 1.2 5.7 5 1.1
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
349.9 350.7 0.8 10.5 5 0.7
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-382 (200.0m) 115.6 116.8 1.2 5.0 33 1.0
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-383 (282.9m) 149.2 150.3 1.1 9.9 96 1.1
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
180.6 181.1 0.5 19.2 14 0.5
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-387 (155.6m) 195.9 198.7 2.8 6.8 71 2.6
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-388 (304.0m) 270.7 273.2 2.5 9.6 64 2.3
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
276.8 277.3 0.5 10.6 201 0.5
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-391 (205.8m) 171.1 172.6 1.5 8.8 217 1.4
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
181.8 185.7 3.9 8.6 78 3.6
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Includes 181.8 182.2 0.4 42.5 365 0.3
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
188.2 193.8 5.6 4.3 18 5.2
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Includes 188.2 189.2 1.0 9.1 24 0.9
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-392 (300.0m) 266.9 267.9 1.0 24.4 304 0.9
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-394 (232.1m) 195.1 197.6 2.5 4.9 79 2.3
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
202.2 206.1 3.9 12.1 52 3.6
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-395 (289.0m) 212.5 216.9 4.4 5.4 47 1.9
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Includes 214.0 214.7 0.7 14.6 144 0.6
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-396 (360.2m) 317.4 318.9 1.5 14.2 26 1.4
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
348.1 350.0 1.9 19.2 21 1.6
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-397 (299.1m) 272.4 274.9 2.4 7.8 18 2.1
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-401 (218.4m) 151.8 152.7 0.9 35.0 1,220 0.8
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
BC-402 (251.0m) 233.8 236.2 2.4 30.8 531 2.2
--------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
*Drill Holes BC-363, 373, 376, 377, 378, 379, 384, 385, 386, 389, 390, 393,
398, 399 and 400 did not report any significant assay values.