International Minerals Reports Drilling and Metallurgical Results From Converse Gold Project, Nevada
Intercepts of 328m at 0.7 g/t and 149m at 0.9 g/t Gold; Metallurgical Recoveries up to 80% in Column Leach TestsSCOTTSDALE, AZ -- (Marketwire) -- 11/29/11 -- International Minerals Corporation (TSX: IMZ) (SWISS: IMZ) announces updated drill and metallurgical results from its 100%-owned Converse gold project in northern Nevada. IMZ anticipates completing a scoping study (Preliminary Economic Assessment) in December to evaluate the viability of an open pit, heap leach processing operation at Converse.
Highlights from IMZ's core drill program include drill intercepts of 328 meters ('m') at 0.7 grams per tonne ('g/t') and 149m at 0.9 g/t in drill holes CONV-004C and CONV-005C respectively. These drill intercepts confirm continuity of the gold mineralization within a conceptual pit area for the Converse deposit.
Appendix 1: Drill Hole Location Map for Converse Property
Recent results of preliminary metallurgical testwork (column leaching) from one core drill hole at Converse indicate encouraging recovery rates. Although IMZ anticipates overall heap leach recovery rates to be in the 60% range, results from this one drill hole reported gold recoveries up to 80%.
Current Drilling Program:
IMZ's originally-designed drill program of five deep vertical core drill holes (totaling approximately 2,750m) has been extended to a program of 18 holes for a total of nearly 6,000m, based on encouraging drill results to date. This program will confirm the continuity of the deeper, recently discovered, mineralization, as well as provide a greater level of confidence to the overall resource estimation process. Significant assay results for the four core holes (totaling 1,097m) 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 (average uncut grades)
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Drill Hole Total Intersection
Number Depth (m) From-To (m) Intercept(m) Gold Grade (g/t)
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CONV-002C 420 143-160 17 1.0
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261-273 12 1.1
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291-300 9 1.6
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CONV-004C 728 82-410 328 0.7
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incl 90-107 17 1.1
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incl 212-224 12 1.4
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incl 261-271 10 1.4
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incl 282-299 17 1.2
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incl 305-317 12 1.8
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514-529 15 1.3
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CONV-005C 549 136-285 149 0.9
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incl 143-174 31 1.5
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incl 215-229 14 1.7
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CONV-006C 549 135-151 16 0.4
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251-294 43 0.6
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399-402 3 15.8
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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. Drill holes CONV-001C and CONV-003C were previously published in a June 16th IMZ press release.
The number of drill holes at Converse now totals 318 (312 by previous property owners) totaling 71,064 m.
Metallurgical results:
Final results have been received for three composites generated from drill hole CONV-001C. The results show that two of the three samples resulted in metallurgical gold recoveries of approximately 80%. The third, sample, which was the lowest grade and the deepest composite (and which is located below the conceptual pit limit) reported a recovery of 50%.
Overall metallurgical recovery is anticipated by IMZ to be in the 60% range and the additional metallurgical testing that is required to advance the project to feasibility stage is ongoing.
The three composites were generated from contiguous down-hole intercepts and submitted to McClelland Laboratories, Inc. in Reno Nevada for column leach testing, where they were crushed to 100% passing 9.5mm and leached for 60 days.
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Intersection Head Grade Gold
Composite # From-To (m)(1) Gold (g/t)(2) Recovery
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Composite 1 CONV-001C 122-172 0.38 79%
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Composite 1 CONV-001C 267-296 0.44 80%
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Composite 1 CONV-001C 422-490 0.20 50%
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NOTES:
1. The intersections may not include all of the individual samples as composites were selected from these ranges to achieve a target grade.
2. Head grade is a back-calculated grade using gold extracted in solution and final tail assays.
Current Mineral Resources:
The Converse gold project, located in the prolific Battle Mountain/Cortez mineralized trend, is a skarn-type deposit and contains the following current independent mineral resource estimate at a cut-off of grade 0.27 g/t gold:
Measured and Indicated Resources: 5.146 million ounces ('ozs') of gold contained within 331 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.48 g/t gold, comprising:
Measured Resource: 3.515 million ozs of gold contained within 225 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.49 g/t gold.
Indicated Resource: 1.632 million ozs of gold contained within 106 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.48 g/t gold.
Inferred Resource: 0.444 million ozs of gold contained within 32 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.44 g/t gold.
The Converse mineral resource estimate has been classified in accordance with CIM guidelines by independent consultant R. Mohan Srivastava (P.Geo), a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. The estimate has an effective date of August 24, 2011. For further details, see IMZ's news release dated August 24, 2011.
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, the fifth largest primary silver mine in the world. Production at Pallancata in calendar year 2010 was approximately 10.1 million ounces of silver and 36,000 ounces of gold (on a 100% project basis).
In addition to the Pallancata Mine, IMZ also owns a 40% interest in the Inmaculada gold-silver project in Peru and majority or 100% ownership interests in development stage gold projects in Nevada (Goldfield and Converse) and Ecuador (Rio Blanco and Gaby).
IMZ also receives a 3% net smelter return royalty from Barrick Gold's Ruby Hill gold mine in Nevada, which produced approximately 80,000 gold ounces in 2010.
IMZ is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (since 1994) and the Swiss Stock Exchange (since 2002).
General
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, VP Corporate Development Nick Appleyard.
To acess this news release and Appendix 1 Map from IMZ's website, please click this link:
http://www.intlminerals.com/release.php?R_ID=279
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, planned preliminary economic assessment studies and process recovery estimates. 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 preliminary economic assessment and other technical studies, risks associated with scale-up of bench scale metallurgical testwork recoveries 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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