Huckleberry minelife extended by 7 years

Imperial Metals (TSE:III) is extending its Huckleberry mine in northern British Columbia by 7 years.

The company said it plans to extend the Main zone pit and build a new tailings storage facility, which will keep the mine running until 2021, 7 years later than the previous plan to close the mine in 2014.

The pit is estimated to contain 39.7 million tonnes of ore grading 0.343% copper, with an overall strip ratio of 1.46 to 1.

Since startup in 1997, the  mine has produced an aggregate 870 million pounds of copper, 8 million pounds of molybdenum, 105,000 ounces of gold and 3.4 million ounces of silver.

Imperial Metals estimates copper production at the mine, once the Main Zone Optimization (MZO) plan is implemented, to average 43.2 million pounds per year from 2011 to 2019. Production in the last two years of operation will be reduced as low-grade stockpiles are milled.

Imperial holds a 50% share in Huckleberry Mines Ltd., owner of the Huckleberry mine located 123 kilometres southwest of Houston, BC. The company’s other key properties are the Mount Polley open pit copper/gold mine and the Red Chris copper/gold property, both in British Columbia, and the Sterling gold property in Nevada.