International Minerals Reports Drill Results From Converse Project, Nevada, Including Gold Intercepts of 197m at 0.8 g/t and 64m at 1.1 g/t
SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- (Marketwire) -- 05/29/12 -- International Minerals Corporation (TSX: IMZ) (SWISS: IMZ) reports additional positive drill results from its 100%-owned Converse gold deposit ("Converse") in northern Nevada.
Assay result highlights from 15 drill-holes forming part of IMZ's current core drilling program include intercepts of 197 meters ("m") at 0.8 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold and 64m at 1.1 g/t gold in drill-holes CONV-013C and CONV-008C respectively.
Appendix 1: Drill Hole Location Map
These drill results continue to confirm that the Converse mineralization is still open at depth below the conceptual pit boundaries defined by IMZ's Preliminary Economic Assessment (or "Scoping Study"). See news release dated December 19, 2011.
Commenting on the drill results, Stephen Kay, President/CEO of IMZ, said, "Converse is a major gold deposit, in a mining-friendly jurisdiction and in a great location in terms of infrastructure. Management is confident that the deposit will continue to grow in size and we are committed to completing a feasibility study by the end of next year to determine the future development of Converse."
Current Drilling Program
A total of 333 drill-holes (76,469m) have now been completed at Converse (312 by previous property owners). As part of IMZ's plans to start a feasibility study this year, the current drilling program has been extended in order to acquire additional metallurgical and geotechnical data as well as to complete condemnation/sterilization drilling under the conceptual facility locations based on the Scoping Study.
Significant assay results for the fifteen drill-holes (totaling 5,405m) in the current program are shown in the Table below and drill-hole locations are shown on the plan map in Appendix 1.
Converse Gold Project - Significant Drill Intervals (uncut average grades)
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Drill Hole
Number. Depth (m) From (m) To (m) Intercept Gold (g/t)
Azimuth/Dip (m)(1)
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CONV-007C
180/-60 0-549 Core 245 259 14 1.55
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318 463 145 0.62
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494 518 24 1.05
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CONV-008C
vertical 0-365 Core 24 88 64 1.14
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107 122 15 0.98
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CONV-009C(2) 0-122 RC
vertical 122-457 Core 75 126 52 0.89
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146 165 18 1.12
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CONV-010C(2) 0-122 RC
vertical 122-305 Core 26 81 55 0.70
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155 177 21 0.96
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221 238 17 0.59
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259 271 12 0.80
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CONV-011C(2) 0-122 RC
090/-70 122-305 Core 82 113 31 0.82
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265 299 34 1.21
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CONV-012C(2) 0-122 RC
090/-70 122-457 Core 174 186 12 0.75
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216 296 80 0.85
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421 451 30 0.60
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CONV-013C(2) 0-122 RC
090/-60 546 Core 149 250 101 0.78
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312 509 197 0.85
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CONV-014C(2) 0-122 RC
090/-70 122-549 Core 62 75 12 0.80
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101 174 73 0.70
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189 232 43 0.72
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360 369 9 1.77
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CONV-015C(2) 0-134 RC
090/-70 134-366 Core 230 238 8 0.71
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CONV-016C(2) 0-171 RC
000/-70 171-393 Core No significant values
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CONV-021(3)
vertical 0-293 RC Condemnation/sterilization drilling only
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CONV-022(3)
vertical 0-218 RC
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CONV-023(3)
vertical 0-189 RC
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CONV-024(3)
vertical 0-183 RC
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CONV-025(3)
vertical 0-232 RC
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Notes:
1. Due to the complex and irregular shape of the mineralized zones at Converse, true widths of the mineralized intercepts cannot be determined at this time.
2. Reverse circulation ("RC") drilling pre-collars have been used for certain core holes as a cost-saving measure where feasible.
3. Drill holes CONV-021 through CONV-025 were planned as condemnation drill holes for the proposed facility sites.
4. Drill holes CONVC-017 through CONVC-020 are not reported as they do not yet have complete results available.
Metallurgy
An additional 18 composite drill-hole intercept core samples have been submitted to McClelland Laboratories, Inc. in Reno Nevada for column leach testing to further evaluate the variation in metallurgical recoveries throughout the Converse deposit and to assist in the definition of the operational parameters for a potential heap leach operation at Converse.
Final results from this metallurgical testwork program are expected to be available in October. It is anticipated that one more round of column-leach testwork will be required before the feasibility study can be completed in late 2013.
General
The December 2011 Scoping Study envisages a conceptual mine production of 217 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.52 g/t gold and 3.9 g/t silver containing 3.60 million ounces ("ozs") gold and 27.6 million ozs silver. Conceptual process throughput is 45,000 tonnes per day (16.5 million tonnes per year) from an open-pit mine with a recovery process using cyanide heap leaching followed by carbon adsorption/stripping and electrowinning to produce gold/silver doré bars. Gold recovery is estimated at 60% and silver recovery at 31%.
Sample preparation and analytical work for the Converse drilling program were carried out by ALS Minerals in Reno, Nevada, an ISO 9001:2008 certified laboratory which employs industry-standard analytical methods. As part of IMZ's QA/QC protocol, standard samples and blanks were inserted into the sample processing stream at a rate of one per 10 samples. Duplicate and alternate laboratory check samples also form part of this sampling protocol.
The technical disclosure including drill results in this news release has been reviewed by IMZ's Qualified Person, Exploration Manager, Mark Cannuli.
About International Minerals
International Minerals is a silver-gold producer, explorer and developer with silver-gold production from its 40%-owned Pallancata Mine in Peru, which is operated by Hochschild and in 2011 was the sixth largest primary silver mine in the world. Production at Pallancata in calendar year 2012 is estimated by IMZ to be 8 million ounces of silver and 34,000 ounces of gold (on a 100% project basis).
IMZ also owns a 40% interest in the development-stage Inmaculada gold-silver project in Peru, which is scheduled to be in production by December 2013 and produce approximately 124,000 ounces of gold and 4.2 million ounces of silver annually on a 100% project basis.
In addition to Inmaculada and Pallancata, IMZ also holds 100% ownership interests in advanced stage gold projects in Nevada (Goldfield and Converse) and variable ownership interests in gold projects in Ecuador (Rio Blanco 100% and Gaby ~60%).
IMZ is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (since 1994) and the Swiss Stock Exchange (since 2002).
To acess this news release from IMZ's website, please click this link: http://www.intlminerals.com/newsreleases.php.
Cautionary Statement:
Some of the statements contained in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities law requirements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding mineral resource estimates, preliminary economic assessment studies and planned feasibility studies and planned production rates. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include risks and uncertainties such as: risks of estimating mineral resources, risks of timely completion of feasibility and other technical studies, mining risks and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the Company's Renewal Annual Information Form for the year ended June 30, 2011, which is available at www.sedar.com under the Company's name. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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