Imperial Reports Letter of Intent to Sell the Sterling Property

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - February 15, 2017) - Imperial Metals Corp. (the "Company") (TSX: III) reports that Sterling Gold Mining Corporation ("SGMC"), a wholly-owned subsidiary, has entered into a Letter of Intent ("LOI") with Northern Empire Resources Corp. ("NM") to sell its interest in the Sterling gold mine property located in Nevada, United States.

The purchase price for the assets includes US$10 million cash (including a US$250,000 non-refundable deposit due within 5 days of the execution of the LOI) and 5 million shares of NM. SGMC will retain a two percent (2.0%) Net Smelter Returns royalty ("NSR") on the portions of the Sterling gold mine property not currently burdened by a pre-existing NSR.

The closing is planned for the second quarter of 2017 and is subject to completion of a formal Property Purchase Agreement, board and regulatory approvals as necessary, completion of due diligence and conventional conditions for such a transaction.

About Imperial
Imperial is a Vancouver-based exploration, mine development and operating company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, owns the Red Chris and Mount Polley copper/gold mines in British Columbia, and the Sterling gold mine in Nevada. Imperial also holds a 50% interest in Huckleberry Mines Ltd. and in the Ruddock Creek lead/zinc property, both in British Columbia.

Forward-Looking Information and Risks Notice
Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect Company management's expectations or beliefs regarding future events and include, but are not limited to, specific statements regarding the anticipated completion of the sale of all, or substantially all, of the assets of Sterling Gold Mining Corporation, including the Sterling mine, in the second quarter of 2017 (the "Sterling Sale").

In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "outlook", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. In this document certain forward-looking statements are identified by words including "guidance", "expectations", "targeted", "plan", "planned", "estimated", "calls for" and "expected". By their very nature forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others, the following: required approvals not being obtained and the closing of the Sterling Sale not occurring or being delayed; political and economic environment, gold price volatility; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, mineral reserves and resources and metallurgical recoveries; mining operational and development risk; litigation risks; regulatory environment and restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions and liability; currency fluctuations; speculative nature of gold exploration; share price volatility; competition; loss of key employees; additional funding requirements; and defective title to mineral claims or property; and other risks of the mining industry as well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Company's interim and annual financial statements and management's discussion and analysis of those statements, all of which are filed and available for review at imperialmetals.com and sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements.

Contact

Company Contacts

Brian Kynoch
President
604.669.8959

Andre Deepwell
Chief Financial Officer
604.488.2666

Steve Robertson
Vice President Corporate Affairs
604.488.2669

Gordon Keevil
Vice President Corporate Development
604.488.2677

Sabine Goetz
Shareholder Communications
604.488.2657
investor@imperialmetals.com