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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Nov. 9, 2009) -Imperial Metals Corporation (TSX:III) reports partial results from the sixth and seventh drill holes of the 2009 deep drilling program at the Red Chris copper/gold property in northwest British Columbia. RC09-350 returned 152.5 metres grading 4.12% copper and 8.83 g/t gold starting at a depth of 540.0 metres.

The vertical hole was collared approximately 170 metres northeast of drill hole (2007) RC07-335 [NR Oct 16/07: RC07-335 returned 1,024.1 metres grading 1.01% copper, 1.26 g/t gold and 3.92 g/t silver]. The strong gold to copper ratio in RC09-350 is consistent with other drill intercepts from the eastern side of the deep East zone, however this is the highest grade intercept over an interval of that scale on the property to date. Of the 62 assay intervals in the 152.5 metre run, only six returned less than 2.0% copper and only four of the intervals returned less than 4.0 grams per tonne gold. At the time of this release, this drill hole is still in progress nearing its 1,500 metre target depth. Full results for drill hole RC09-350 will be released when all data have been received from the laboratory.

The upper portion of drill hole RC09-350 is consistently mineralized with low grade to sub-economic copper and gold grades. The upper 220.0 metres of the drill hole lies within the planned pit and averages 0.17% copper and 0.12 g/t gold, explaining why this area had not been previously tested to depth. The high grade results returned below 540.0 metres add to the evolving model of a larger and higher grade deposit at depth. Drill hole RC09-350 is the most easterly of the drilling that has been completed on the deep East zone target. Copper mineralization is hosted in an intensely quartz flooded, veined and stock-worked portion of the Red Stock and is open for expansion to the north and east. The copper hosting mineralogy over the 152.5 metre interval immediately below 540.0 metres is almost exclusively chalcopyrite, with only minor bornite observed. In contrast, most high grade copper/gold intervals observed on the western portion of the deep East zone host significant and sometimes dominant bornite.

Partial results to 927.5 metres depth are also available for drill hole RC09-349 which was collared 110 metres to the northeast of RC07-335. Drill hole RC09-349 intercepted 537.5 metres grading 0.86% copper and 0.99 g/t gold mineralization from 390.0 metres depth. Similar to hole RC09-350, RC09-349 was collared within the perimeter of the proposed pit but the 242.5 metres drilled within the pit limits did not encounter any intervals of greater than 0.2% copper. This hole has been completed and final results are expected from the lab soon.

The significant intervals encountered in the two holes are provided below.

The 2009 drill program continues with drill holes RC09-350 and 351 in progress at the time of this release. The Company expects to have completed eight holes (RC09-345 to RC09-352) in the current program prior to the winter break. Drilling of the deep East zone and other targets will resume early 2010. When RC09-351 is completed, a 400 metre strike length of the favourable unit in the East zone will have been tested to depth between it and RC09-350.

Steve Robertson, PGeo. is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 for the exploration program at Red Chris. Samples for the diamond drilling reported at Red Chris were analyzed at Acme Analytical Laboratories in Vancouver. A full QA/QC program using blanks, standards and duplicates was maintained for all samples submitted to the labs. The deeper portion of the Red Chris porphyry mineralization is in the early stage of exploration and may be irregular in shape so true thicknesses have not been estimated. A drill plan and cross section will be available on the Company's website.

The Red Chris property in northern British Columbia is situated 18 kilometres southeast of the village of Iskut. Access to the property from pavement at Highway 37 is six kilometres along the Ealue Lake Road, and 17 kilometres along the newly constructed Red Chris access road.

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 open pit copper/molybdenum producing mine in northern British Columbia, the development stage Red Chris copper/gold property in northwest British Columbia, and the development stage Sterling gold property in southwest Nevada.