Positive Feasibility Study At Goldfield Gold Project

 

SCOTTSDALE, AZ - International Minerals Corporation reported positive results from an independent feasibility study on the Gemfield gold deposit at its 100%-owned Goldfield property in Nevada.

At a base-case gold price of $1,350 per ounce and a projected 6,000 tonnes per day ("tpd") heap leach processing throughput, an open-pit mine on the Gemfield deposit at Goldfield could return a pre-tax net present value ("NPV") at a 5% discount rate of approximately $102 million and an internal rate of return ("IRR") of 22% based on initial estimated capital cost of $133 million.

Basic engineering is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2012 and, subject to ongoing permitting, financing and construction, production is estimated to commence in mid-2015.

Proven and Probable mineral reserves for Gemfield are estimated at 14.3 million tonnes ("Mt") at an average grade of 1.1 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold, containing 511,000 ounces of gold, resulting in a mine-life of approximately 6.5 years.

The Goldfield property currently hosts three separate gold deposits (Gemfield, Goldfield Main and McMahon Ridge) with total Measured and Indicated resource estimates of 1.2 million ounces gold contained in 31.1 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.2 g/t, including 574,000 ounces of gold contained in 17.0 million tonnes at a grade of 1.0 g/t at the Gemfield deposit (see table 4). The mineral resource is inclusive of the mineral reserve.

The Goldfield Main and McMahon Ridge deposits do not form part of the current feasibility study as they remain subject to further drilling and metallurgical testwork.

Commenting on the results of the study, Steve Kay, President and CEO of IMZ, said "The completion of the feasibility study for the Gemfield deposit is not only the first major step in the future development of the overall Goldfield project, but it is also an important milestone in IMZ's goal of becoming a stand-alone mine operator to complement silver and gold production from its 40%-owned Peruvian operations."

The company's address is E. Acoma Drive, Suite 211, Scottsdale, AZ 85260, 480-483-9932.