Imperial Metals Is British Columbia's Top Mineral Explorer in 2010 

VANCOUVER, BC - Imperial Metals Corporation reported as British Columbia's top mineral explorer in 2010. Provincial Minister of State for Mining Randy Hawes announced mineral exploration expenditures reached $322 million in 2010, a considerable rebound from expenditures in 2009.

Imperial carried out exploration programs at its Red Chris, Mount Polley, Ruddock Creek and Catface properties, spending $32.6 million which represents about 10% of the 2010 provincial expenditure. "We are proud to be a BC based company, and are proud that the majority of our exploration work is in this province," said Imperial President Brian Kynoch. "We are convinced BC is a place where we can find and build world class mines." Imperial's 2010 exploration expenditures included $17.2 million at Red Chris(1), $10.3 million at Mount Polley, $3.7 million at Ruddock Creek(2) and $1.4 million at Catface. "Our exploration work, particularly at Red Chris, shows that exploration expenditures in BC can pay off. We are very pleased to be BC's largest exploration company by expenditure for 2010," concluded Kynoch. Imperial is a mine development and operating company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Company's key properties are the Mount Polley open pit copper/gold producing mine in central British Columbia, the Huckleberry open pit copper/molybdenum producing mine in northern British Columbia, the development stage Red Chris copper/gold property in northwest British Columbia and Sterling gold property in southwest Nevada. The company's address is 200-580 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 3B6.