NEWS RELEASE
INTERNATIONAL MINERALS CORPORATION
(formerly Ecuadorian Minerals Corporation)
March 31, 2003
Trading: TSX & SWX: "IMZ"
JOINT VENTURED WITH GOLD FIELDS
International (formerly Ecuadorian) Minerals Corporation’s (“IMC”) Cańicapa gold project in Ecuador, which was recently joint ventured (see news release dated January 9, 2003). with IAMGOLD Corporation (“IAMGOLD”), has now been included in a new joint venture agreement between IAMGOLD and Gold Fields Chile Ltda (“Gold Fields”) covering a large area of prospective ground for gold exploration in southeastern Ecuador.
IAMGOLD-GOLD FIELDS AGREEMENT
Under the terms of the joint venture agreement (the “JV”) between IAMGOLD and Gold Fields, Gold Fields will fund $5 million of exploration within a four-year period in order to earn a 50% interest in the joint venture. IAMGOLD will manage the project and Gold Fields will have the right to assume future operatorship. Gold Fields will have the option of earning a further 10% interest in the joint venture by making a further expenditure of $10 million within eight years of signing the JV.
IAMGOLD, on behalf of itself and Gold Fields, holds an extensive land position of more than 2,500 sq km in the joint venture area of interest. Most of this ground is in the form of concessions owned 100% by IAMGOLD but it also includes ground held under option agreements with third parties. These latter concessions include IMC’s Cańicapa and Celen properties (the “Cańicapa Property”).
IMC-IAMGOLD AGREEMENT
Under the terms of an agreement dated December 20, 2002 (the “Agreement”), IAMGOLD can acquire an initial 60% interest in IMC’s 59 sq km Cańicapa Property by spending US$2.0 million in exploration expenditures over a five-year period commencing from the date of the Agreement. IAMGOLD will then have the option to acquire a further 20% interest (for an aggregate 80% interest) by funding and completing a bankable feasibility study within an eight-year period from the date of the Agreement.
Properties covered by IMC’s Agreement with IAMGOLD also include several concessions (covering 159 sq. km) owned 100% by IAMGOLD within a 3 km “area of interest” surrounding the Canicapa Property. These concessions also form part of the IAMGOLD-Gold Fields joint venture. Gold Fields, under the terms of its agreement with IAMGOLD, will now assume IAMGOLD’s responsibility for the maintenance of IMC’s Cańicapa Property and for making the payments related to the agreement between IMC and the previous property owner.
An aggressive work program has been approved by IAMGOLD and Gold Fields covering the ground included in the IAMGOLD-Gold Fields agreement, with the objective of identifying the first drill targets by mid-2003.
Stephen J. Kay, President and CEO
The Toronto and Swiss Stock Exchanges neither approve nor disapprove the information contained in this News Release.
For additional information, contact Investor Relations at Tel: (480) 483-9932 or Fax: (480) 483-9926.