Possible Fuel Cell Graphite Source?Industrial Minerals Inc. Commences Graphite Production from the Bissett Creek Property
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2005--Industrial Minerals Inc. (OTCBB:IDSM - News) today announced that it has begun commercial production of graphite from its Bissett Creek property. This is the first producing graphite property in Ontario. There is only one other producing graphite property in North America.
The Company's goal is to ramp up initial production to 500 tons of graphite per month during the next 10 days. Production will initially be carried out on a single shift basis, five days per week. The intention is to grow production levels over the next three months.
"On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am delighted to be able to make this announcement today. Everyone here at Industrial Minerals has worked very hard to reach this new phase of our growth," said Larry Van Tol, President and CEO. "We have been producing quality control samples for the past few months while we continued to fine tune the processing plant and I am pleased to report that these samples have been very well received by major graphite users."
The property and processing plant are located 16km from the TransCanada Highway, 20km from the Canadian Pacific rail line and a 4-5 hour drive to the Port of Montreal. This offers the Company several options when shipping its graphite to customers.
Industrial Minerals Inc. has developed a totally dry process to recover graphite from its quartz/biotite/graphite ore body. It is the only graphite mine in the world to use such an environmentally friendly extraction method. This process has proven to be capable of extracting 95 - 96% pure graphite economically from various parts of the ore body with feed contents ranging from 1.5 to 16.8% carbon.
For more information on Industrial Minerals, please visit our website at www.industrialmineralsinc.com.
Industrial Minerals Inc. through its wholly owned subsidiary Industrial Minerals Canada Inc. owns 100% of the undivided interest in the Bissett Creek Graphite patented mineral lease, containing a resource of 640,000 tons of flake graphite on 10% of the patented mineral lease. The property is comprised of 28 patented claims covering an area of approximately 504 hectares (1,245 acres). It has been the subject of substantial earlier exploration drilling, trenching and metallurgical test work by KHD Canada, Kilborn Engineering, Pincock Alan and Holt and Cominco Engineering Services. The property is located in Maria Township in the Province of Ontario, Canada.
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on current expectations and actual results may differ materially from these expectations. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ are the risk factors listed in the Company's most recent SEC filings.
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Contact:
Industrial Minerals, Inc.
Larry Van Tol, 888-225-0886
or
Roth Investor Relations
Michelle Roth, 732-792-2200
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Source: Industrial Minerals Inc.