The upgraded Mineral Resource estimate for the high-grade zone (>5% TGC) of the Shimba deposit of 9.2 million tonnes grading 10.7% TGC for 984,100 tonnes of contained graphite has increased total contained graphite by 24%.

IMX CEO Phil Hoskins said: "The conversion of 62% of the Shimba resource to the Indicated category is an important milestone for the Chilalo Project, confirming the robust nature of the deposit and further de-risking development, ahead of our PFS in November 2015. The higher grade Indicated Resource strengthens our belief that Chilalo can become a low-cost flake graphite producer. The quality of the Shimba deposit, highlighted by this upgraded resource and recently announced improvements in flake size distribution, further demonstrates that Chilalo has the characteristics of a world-class graphite project."

The high-grade resource is part of the total Indicated and Inferred Shimba Mineral Resource estimate of 25.1 Mt, which includes a low-grade Inferred Resource of 15.9 million tonnes grading 3.3% TGC for 523,000 tonnes of contained graphite. The Shimba Mineral Resource estimate is set out in Table 1 below, with drill-hole information and JORC 2012 Table 1 Reporting included as appendices.

"Whilst we don’t believe resource size is important, and the Shimba resource is expected to be sufficient to underpin the proposed scale of development at Chilalo, the 24% increase in contained graphite is a welcome benefit of this revised resource estimate," Mr Hoskins added.

The upgraded Mineral Resource estimate confirms the exceptional quality of the Shimba deposit, which not only has the highest grade of any of the reported JORC resources in Tanzania, but also has a high percentage of large and jumbo flake sized material.

The recently completed drilling was designed to upgrade 50% of the Inferred Resource to a higher category and to provide additional material for metallurgical and geotechnical testwork. CSA Global Pty Ltd (‘CSA Global’), who completed the Mineral Resource estimate, has advised that the completion of additional metallurgical testwork is expected to enable conversion of the majority of the Indicated Resource to the Measured category, without any further drilling.

The updated Mineral Resource estimate (MRE) was completed by CSA Global, in accordance with the guidelines of the JORC Code, (2012). The MRE is based upon drill data which intersected the interpreted mineralisation zones in 19 diamond core holes and in 20 reverse circulation (RC) holes.