Imperial Metals’ President, Brian Kynoch, was presented with the 2006 EA Scholz Award in recognition of excellence in mine development in British Columbia. The award was presented to Kynoch at the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia (AME BC) awards dinner in Vancouver on January 31, 2007.

Kynoch joined Imperial in 1997 as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer following the merger of Imperial with Bethlehem Resources. He was appointed Imperial’s President in 2003. Kynoch’s career spans over 26 years during which he has played lead roles in the exploration, development, commissioning, operation and reclamation of numerous mines and mineral properties including the Mount Polley, Nickel Plate, Goldstream, Huckleberry, Castle Mountain and Sterling mines. He is at the forefront of novel work on the recovery of copper from oxide ores.

Motivated by the presence of significant quantities of oxide copper ores at the Mount Polley mine site, he led a team of scientists in designing a bacterial leach process capable of economically recovering copper from these ores. It was this work that indicated the potential value of the oxide copper resource at Mount Polley and led to the discovery of the high grade North East zone. The process will be tested on a large scale this summer in a 200,000 t test heap.

Kynoch’s strong technical discipline and practical approach is apparent in the planning, design and execution of all the projects he has been associated with. He is highly regarded by all who have come in contact with him for his professionalism, integrity and fair mindedness.