UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20549
FORM 6-K
REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 UNDER
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the month of FEBRUARY, 2006.
Commission File Number: 001-32558
IMA EXPLORATION INC.
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(Translation of registrant's name into English)
#709 - 837 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 3N6, Canada
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(Address of principal executive offices)
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports
under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F: FORM 20-F [X] FORM 40-F [ ]
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as
permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): _______
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as
permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): _______
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information
contained in this Form, is also thereby furnishing the information to the
Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
YES [ ] NO [X]
If "Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant in
connection with Rule 12g3- 2(b): 82-_____________
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf of the
undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
IMA EXPLORATION INC.
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Date: February 16, 2006 /s/ Joseph Grosso
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Joseph Grosso,
President & CEO
IMA EXPLORATION INC.
(A Grosso Group Company)
Suite 709 - 837 West Hastings Street,
Terminal City Club Tower,
Vancouver, B.C. V6C 3N6
Tel: 604-687-1828 Fax: 604-687-1858 Toll Free: 800-901-0058
Internet: www.imaexploration.com E-mail: info@imaexploration.com
TSX Venture Exchange: IMR American Stock Exchange: IMR
Frankfurt & Berlin Exchanges: IMT (WKN 884971)
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NEWS RELEASE - FEBRUARY 16, 2006
UPDATED RESOURCE ESTIMATE AND METALLURGICAL RESULTS AT IMA'S NAVIDAD PROJECT
IMA EXPLORATION INC. (IMR-AMEX , IMR-TSX.V) is pleased to announce the results
of an updated resource estimate at the Company's Navidad Project in Patagonia,
Argentina. This new estimate was completed to provide a high quality data set
for the ongoing scoping study and it includes results from recent infill and
perimeter drilling at the Galena Hill, Connector Zone, Navidad Hill, and Calcite
Hill deposits, and new resources at Calcite NW. This estimate now integrates
previous resource estimates of the individual deposits into one global block
model. Navidad Project Indicated Resources are now estimated at 93.4 million
tonnes grading 102 g/t silver and 1.41% lead for a total of 305.7 million ounces
of contained silver and 2.90 billion pounds of lead (1.32 million tonnes),
making the Navidad discovery a truly world class silver-lead deposit.
In addition, the Company is pleased to release highly encouraging preliminary
results from metallurgical testwork using thiosulphate to leach silver from
oxidized silver (pyrite) concentrates from Galena Hill. Pressure oxidation
followed by atmospheric leaching with thiosulphate has achieved silver
recoveries of up to 89%. These results are important as this process would allow
the production of silver metal on site using environmentally benign reagents.
With the addition of Indicated and Inferred resources at Calcite NW, the company
has now defined nearly continuous, near-surface resources at the Navidad Trend
over a strike length of 3.6 km at a cutoff grade of 50 g/t of silver equivalent
(AgEq(1)). No resources have yet been estimated along the 8 km long Argenta
Trend, where limited drilling on the Loma de la Plata target has returned
significant high-grade silver intersections. Table 1 shows the current resources
broken down by deposit at a cut-off grade of 50 g/t AgEq, tables 2 and 3 below
show project total Indicated and Inferred Resources at various cut-off grades.
More complete tables showing the resources broken down by deposit at different
cut-off grades and a map showing the distribution of currently estimated
resources are available at the company's website WWW.IMAEXPLORATION.COM.
This resource estimate was undertaken at the current time such that the unified
block model would be available to Pincock, Allen and Holt, of Denver, Colorado
who have recently initiated a scoping study that will examine the preliminary
technical, legal, social, environmental and economic aspects of the Navidad
Project. Mineralization at the recently discovered Calcite NW deposit is not yet
fully delineated, drilling is currently underway to determine the ultimate size
of this deposit.
NEWS RELEASE FEBRUARY 16, 2006
IMA EXPLORATION INC. PAGE 2
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TABLE 1: NAVIDAD RESOURCES BY DEPOSIT AT 50 G/T AGEQ(1) CUT-OFF.
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CONTAINED CONTAINED
DEPOSIT THOUSAND SILVER LEAD SILVER LEAD
TONNES (G/T) (%) (M OZS) (M LBS)
================================================================================
GALENA HILL
Indicated 55,728 103 2.00 184.7 2,457
Inferred 2,880 33 1.65 3.0 105
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CONNECTOR ZONE
Indicated 5,591 89 0.40 16.0 49
Inferred 1,157 84 0.28 3.1 7
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NAVIDAD HILL
Indicated 12,803 119 0.45 49.1 127
Inferred 1,302 87 0.59 3.6 17
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CALCITE HILL
Indicated 13,066 99 0.68 41.6 195
Inferred 399 93 0.35 1.2 3
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CALCITE NW
Indicated 6,205 72 0.52 14.3 71
Inferred 5,325 70 0.64 12.1 75
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PROJECT TOTAL
Indicated 93,393 102 1.41 305.7 2,900
Inferred 11,063 65 0.85 23.0 207
================================================================================
The current resource estimate was prepared by Christine Standing, B.Sc.(Hons),
MAusIMM, of Snowden Mining Industry Consultants Pty Ltd who is an Independent
Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has verified the
technical information relating to resources contained in this news release. A
technical report detailing the results of this resource estimate will be
publicly available on SEDAR (WWW.SEDAR.COM) within the next 45 days.
Reported base-case tonnages and grades were calculated using a cut-off grade of
50g/t silver equivalent. This cut-off was chosen as it reflects a contained
gross metal value that is similar to many bulk-tonnage operations worldwide. To
date, no analysis has been completed to determine the economic cut-off grade
that will ultimately be applied to the Navidad Project. Silver equivalent was
calculated using silver (US$6.00/oz) and lead (US$0.35/lb) values only; it did
not include any factors for variable metal recoveries. Previous resource
estimates have incorporated copper and zinc metal values in addition to silver
and lead in the silver equivalent. This change was made as metallurgical
testwork to date suggests that copper and zinc are not expected to be recovered
in sufficient quantity to add significantly to the value of concentrates
produced. This change is important as it has the effect of raising the silver
and/or lead grade required to include mineralized material in the resource, and
has reduced the tonnage but raised the silver and lead grades in each deposit.
Using the previous 50 g/t silver equivalent cut-off (including silver, lead,
copper, and zinc), the current Project total Indicated Resources would be: 108.0
million tonnes at 91 g/t silver and 1.25% lead for total contained metals of
316.5 million ounces silver and 2.98 billion pounds of lead. These numbers are
presented for comparison purposes only and investors are cautioned that they are
not valid as copper and zinc are not expected to be recovered and do not
contribute to the current resources.
Metallurgical testwork to date on material from the Navidad Project has focused
on using flotation technology to produce a high-grade, saleable lead concentrate
and variable-grade silver concentrates. In the case of Galena Hill, the pyritic
silver concentrates will require further on-site treatment to produce silver
dore (see Dec 1, 2005 press release). Recently, testwork performed at SGS
NEWS RELEASE FEBRUARY 16, 2006
IMA EXPLORATION INC. PAGE 3
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Lakefield under the direction of Dr. David Dreisinger, P.Eng. of Dreisinger
Consulting Inc. has shown that these silver concentrates are amenable to
pressure oxidation under neutral to alkaline conditions followed by atmospheric
leaching using calcium thiosulphate as a lixiviant. Preliminary bench-scale
testwork has produced silver recoveries of 87% after 24 hours and 89% after 72
hours of leaching. These tests were conducted on a very low-grade silver
concentrate (235 g/t silver), it is hoped that additional improvements in silver
recovery may be realized in future testwork on higher-grade concentrates. The
company is highly encouraged by these results as they indicate that the Navidad
Project could produce silver dore on-site using an environmentally benign
lixiviant rather than the more commonly used sodium cyanide. Calcium
thiosulphate is routinely used as fertilizer in the agricultural industry.
TABLE 2: NAVIDAD PROJECT TOTAL INDICATED RESOURCES.
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CUT-OFF THOUSAND CONTAINED CONTAINED
GRADE TONNES SILVER COPPER LEAD ZINC SILVER LEAD
(g/t AgEq1) (g/t) (%) (%) (%) (m ozs) (m lbs)
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50 93,393 102 0.05 1.41 0.16 305.73 2,900
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60 83,134 110 0.05 1.52 0.17 293.86 2,792
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80 74,498 118 0.05 1.64 0.18 281.83 2,690
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100 66,615 126 0.05 1.76 0.19 269.06 2,583
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200 53,715 141 0.06 2.01 0.21 243.99 2,376
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300 22,456 213 0.06 3.03 0.29 153.57 1,498
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TABLE 3: NAVIDAD PROJECT TOTAL INFERRED RESOURCES.
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CUT-OFF THOUSAND CONTAINED CONTAINED
GRADE TONNES SILVER COPPER LEAD ZINC SILVER LEAD
(g/t AgEq1) (g/t) (%) (%) (%) (m ozs) (m lbs)
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50 11,063 65 0.03 0.85 0.12 23.03 207
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60 9,056 72 0.03 0.91 0.12 20.93 183
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80 5,576 92 0.04 1.02 0.13 16.44 125
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100 3,920 107 0.04 1.11 0.14 13.43 96
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200 597 145 0.06 2.50 0.26 2.77 33
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300 41 312 0.17 1.02 0.13 0.41 1
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Notes:
1. Silver equivalent calculated using US$6.00/oz silver and $0.35/lb lead.
(AgEq = Ag + (%Pb*10,000/250). No attempt has been made to adjust these
relative values by accounting for metallurgical recoveries as insufficient
information is available to do so.
2. Strict quality control and quality assurance procedures have been observed
at all stages of data collection leading to this resource. Please see IMA's
website (www.imaexploration.com) for a detailed overview of these
procedures.
3. Resource categories (Indicated and Inferred) used here and the preparation
of this resource estimate conform to National Instrument 43-101 "Standards
of disclosure for mineral projects" and those of the Canadian Institute of
Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum (the "CIM") "Definition Standards on
Mineral Resources and Reserves, 2004".
4. A National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report documenting the Snowden
Resource Estimate will be filed at www.sedar.com as is required by Security
Commission regulations.
5. An "Inferred Mineral Resource" is that part of a Mineral Resource for which
quantity and grade or quality can be estimated on the basis of geological
evidence and limited sampling and reasonably assumed, but not verified,
geological and grade continuity. The estimate is based on limited
information and sampling gathered through appropriate techniques from
locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes.
NEWS RELEASE FEBRUARY 16, 2006
IMA EXPLORATION INC. PAGE 4
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6. An "Indicated Mineral Resource" is that part of a Mineral Resource for
which quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape and physical
characteristics, can be estimated with a level of confidence sufficient to
allow the appropriate application of technical and economic parameters, to
support mine planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the
deposit. The estimate is based on detailed and reliable exploration and
testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations
such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes that are spaced
closely enough for geological and grade continuity to be reasonably
assumed.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
/s/ Joseph Grosso
__________________________________
Mr. Joseph Grosso, President & CEO
For further information please contact Joseph Grosso, President & CEO, or Sean
Hurd, Vice President, Investor Relations, at 1-800-901-0058 or 604-687-1828, or
fax 604-687-1858, or by email info@imaexploration.com, or visit the Company's
web site at http://www.imaexploration.com.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for
the adequacy or the accuracy of this release. CAUTIONARY NOTE TO US INVESTORS:
This news release may contain information about adjacent properties on which we
have no right to explore or mine. We advise U.S. investors that the SEC's mining
guidelines strictly prohibit information of this type in documents filed with
the SEC. U.S. investors are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent
properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on our properties. This news
release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to
comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological
interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery
processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions
and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may
differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.
2006 NUMBER 2