Imperial Metals Corp. is planning to expand its Huckleberry copper and molybdenum mine southwest of Houston and add seven years to its life in the process.
The company filed a technical report last week with the Canadian Securities Administrators describing an expansion of the main pit zone and development of a new tailings storage facility.
The expansion would extend the mine's life to 2021 from 2014.
The plan is estimated to have a net present value of $150 million at a discount rate of eight per cent based on US $3.40 per pound of copper for the remainder of 2011 and for 2012, and a price of US $3.14 per pound of copper from 2013 to 2021, with the U.S.-Canadian exchange rate at par.
Permits for the expansion are anticipated prior to the end of 2011, at which time Imperial and its Japanese partners, who hold 50 per cent of Huckleberry Mines Ltd., will confirm the expansion's implementation.
Additional mining equipment has been ordered, and logging of the project area has started, the company siad.
The Huckleberry mine is located 123 kilometres southwest of Houston in the Tahtsa Reach area. Imperial's other key properties in B.C. are the Mount Polley and Red Chris copper and gold mines. Mount Polley is 100 kilometres northeast of Williams Lake and Red Chris is located 80 kilometres south of Dease Lake and depends on completion of the Northwest Transmission Line to start operation.
