Huckleberry Mines Ltd. has exercised its right of first refusal to purchase-for-cancellation all the shares of Huckleberry held by a syndicate comprised of Mitsubishi Materials Corp., Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd., and Furukawa Co., Ltd., in exchange for a cash consideration of $2 million. The transaction is expected to close during April and will result in Imperial Metals Corp. holding 100% of the shares of Huckleberry through HML Mining Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Imperial.
Huckleberry retained a core group of mine personnel and has kept the mine on care and maintenance since September 2016. As a result, the mine could resume operations quickly. Management has also been reviewing a number of alternate mine plans that would further enhance the mine’s operating performance and potentially extend the mine life.
Recent exploration on the Whiting Creek prospect, located just north of the mine, continued to expand the potential of this large area of porphyry mineralization. Drilling has also confirmed the potential to expand the Main Zone, which hosts the probable reserves that are included in the current mine plan. Huckleberry said it will conduct a comprehensive review of the exploration potential of the entire property.
Huckleberry is an open pit copper/molybdenum mine, located in west central British Columbia, that currently produces an average of 16,000 metric tons per day.