Vancouver-based Imperial Metals Corp. (TSX:III) is B.C.’s top explorer of 2010.
The company made the announcement amid the Association for Mineral Exploration B.C.’s (AME B.C.) annual Roundup conference downtown, which is one of the largest mining conferences of the year.
Imperial, which operates the Mount Polley and Huckleberry Mines in B.C., spent some $32.6 million searching for commodities in B.C.’s hinterland last year.
That equates to approximately 10% of the total amount of money spent on exploration in B.C. last year (see “BC mineral exploration doubles in 2010 ” – BIV Business Today, January 25, 2011.)
“We are proud to be a B.C.-based company, and are proud that the majority of our exploration work is in this province,” commented Imperial president Brian Kynoch. “We are convinced B.C. is a place where we can find and build world class mines.”
The company spent $17.2 million on exploration at its Red Chris property in northwest B.C., which is considered one of the province’s highly prospective copper-gold ore bodies.
Imperial also spent $10.3 million exploring at its existing Mount Polley mine, and another $3.7 million and $1.4 million at its Ruddock Creek and Catface properties respectively.
AME B.C. president and CEO Gavin Dirom told Business in Vancouver that exploration at “world class” deposits such as Red Chris have put B.C. back on the map as a jurisdiction with excellent mineral potential.
He also said there’s been a major shift in recent years in terms of the type of companies that are exploring in B.C.
Twenty-five or thirty years ago, he said, major companies such as Teck Resources Ltd. (TSX:TCK.B) were primarily responsible for exploration expenditures in B.C., but that’s changed.
Now, mid-tier B.C.-based companies such as Imperial, Taseko Mines Ltd. (TSX:TKO) and Northgate Minerals Corp. (TSX:NGX) are leading the pack.
Said Dirom: “I think they represent the up and coming majors potentially and that’s a really good thing for B.C.”