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Imperial Metals Corporation: Imperial Metals Corporation: Governments Announce Investment in Highway 37 Power Line

^{Published on 2009-09-17 10:07:31 - Market Wire}
 

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 17, 2009) - Imperial Metals Corporation (TSX:III) welcomes recent announcements that the British Columbia Provincial Government and the Canadian Federal Government have joined forces to push ahead with the Northwest Transmission Line along the Highway 37 corridor in northwest British Columbia.

Construction of the power line will set the stage for many important economic and social initiatives including development of Imperial's Red Chris copper-gold porphyry project near Iskut, bringing much needed jobs and economic activity to northwest British Columbia.

The Red Chris deposit contains approximately 276 million tonnes of minable reserves at 0.349% copper and 0.266 g/t gold (based on the 2005 Red Chris feasibility study). The anticipated mine life is 25 years with the present known reserves and a production rate of 30,000 tonnes per day. Construction of a mine is expected to take two years and generate 600 jobs. During the mine life, operations would require 250-300 direct jobs with an additional 750 indirect jobs.

Recent exploration at Red Chris indicates much larger potential for this project. Drilling with two diamond drills is currently underway to further explore the deposit at depth.

Imperial is a mine development and operating company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Company's key properties are the Mount Polley open pit copper/gold producing mine in central British Columbia, the Huckleberry (50% interest) open pit copper/molybdenum producing mine in northern British Columbia.