Imperial Drilling Intersects 270 Metres Grading 0.65% Copper and 0.48 g/t Gold at Mount Polley

VANCOUVER British Columbia, April 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Imperial Metals Corporation (“Imperial” or the “Company”) (TSX:III) reports partial diamond drill results from the Mount Polley 2024 exploration program, including a notable interval of 270 metres grading 0.65% copper and 0.48 g/t gold from 22.5 metres in diamond drill hole SD-24-179. Drilling is ongoing with 4,983 metres in 20 holes completed to date. The 2024 program is designed to follow up on last year’s successful drilling in the Springer zone.

Hole SD-24-179 was a vertical hole located on section 3230N and was planned to target significant gaps in the southern/western portion of the Springer zone mineralization at both shallow and deep levels. This mineralization has good potential to be converted from resource to reserve due to its proximity to existing mining and planned pits. The first 158.0 metres of this intercept are in the current ultimate pit design for the Springer pit. The portion of this hole beneath the ultimate pit tests an area that has been studied for potential underground mining.

Significant intercepts:

Hole ID	From (m)	To (m)	Width (m)	Copper (%)	Gold (g/t)
SD-24-179	22.5	492.5	470	0.47	0.39
including	22.5	292.5	270	0.65	0.48
including	195	280	85	0.71	0.88
including	195	217.5	22.5	1.29	1.69
including	257.5	280	22.5	0.83	1.02

The hole was collared atop tailings in the Springer pit and was cased to the first recoverable core at 21 metres. Throughout the entire hole the lithology alternates between intense crackle breccia to moderately pseudo-brecciated monzonite to monzodiorite, with strong potassium feldspar, biotite, calc-silicate, albite and magnetite alteration. Copper mineralization throughout the hole is dominantly disseminated and veinlet-controlled chalcopyrite and trace bornite. Pervasive calc-silicate and magnetite skarn alteration, with iron content up to 27%, was intersected three times within the hole and provides pockets with higher chalcopyrite content.