Bell Copper Corporation - Corporate Update

TSX-V Symbol: BCU

VANCOUVER, Nov. 30 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell Copper Corporation ("Bell Copper" or the "Company") (TSX-V Symbol: BCU) is pleased to provide an update on its 4 copper exploration and development projects in Arizona and Mexico and on its recent financial restructurings.  With the introduction of a production-oriented management team in late 2009/early 2010 that has successfully started 5 mines throughout the world; the Company is now poised to advance its La Balsa and Van Dyke projects to production.  Active exploration focusing on resource growth is also underway on three compelling porphyry copper targets and one large iron ore target. With the recent sale of non-core assets, the recent restructuring of indebtedness, and the proposed splitting of the exploration and production-oriented assets into two separate companies, management hopes to unlock additional shareholder value with the creation of a separate low-cost, value-oriented copper production company and an exploration company advancing a portfolio of world-class porphyry properties.

La Balsa Project, Mexico

La Balsa is a 100% owned, 20 km² property, located in the State of Michoacán, Mexico, which the Company has been developing for copper and iron production since 2005.  Over $15 million has been expended on the project to date, and exploration efforts have delineated three neighbouring, sub-horizontal, mineralized breccias ideally suited for open pit mining.  A 43-101 resource study conducted in 2008 concluded that these deposits hosted a measured and indicated resource of 11.4 million tons at an average copper grade of 0.77% for 194 million pounds of contained copper.  A positive scoping study was issued in March 2010 which confirmed that over a projected 7 year life, the mine would be a low cost (cash costs of US $0.81/lb) producer of 151 million pounds of copper through a combination of SX/EW and subsequent flotation processing methods. 

Capital costs to commence operations were estimated at US $35 million, and the Company has already purchased a fully operational SX/EW plant from the San Manuel Mine, and the required surface rights.  In preparation for permitting, the Company has also completed all of the environmental support documents and baseline studies, and has generated a final draft of the Environmental Impact Statement.  The next step in the process is the generation of a feasibility study, which is expected to take six months to complete.  Given the improvement in copper prices since the initial resources were estimated, the feasibility study will also generate new pit designs that are expected to incorporate more of the resource into the final mine designs.  

Bids for the study are currently being received, and management expects to select the companies responsible for the feasibility study by mid-December.  The Company has also begun to solicit expressions of interest with respect to project financing, and proposals are expected to be received early in the new year. Should the feasibility study reconfirm the attractive economics of the scoping study, construction of the mine is expected to take 18 months, with the commencement of commercial production expected by the first quarter of 2013. 

Van Dyke Project, Arizona

Bell Copper is purchasing a 100% interest in the 1,100 acre Van Dyke project, located at the town of Miami, 90 miles east of Phoenix, AZ.  The purchase price for the project consists of $2.5 million in cash (with $0.5 million at closing and the balance split equally over the following 8 years), a 2.5% NSR and 2 million shares.  Although the historical production on the property was limited to high grade underground ores (11.6 million pounds of copper at grades in excess of 5%), mined in the 1930's and 40's, the Company's interest lies with a much larger mineralized deposit that was drilled by Occidental Minerals in the 1970's. The deposit is relatively shallow dipping, ranges from 900 to 2,000 feet below surface, and hosts copper oxide mineralization.  Apart from the drilling of 70 holes, Occidental also proved that the copper was amendable to in-situ leaching, with a pilot program of two 1,000 foot deep holes, 75 feet apart, successfully leaching copper at recoveries up to 80% using hydro-fracturing to open hairline fractures to improve fluid circulation.

The Company has now completed its technical due diligence on the project, and pending the completion of final documentation among the property owners, closing of the acquisition is expected by January 2011.  As part of its due diligence, management was able to locate the historical drill core and pulp samples from the Occidental drilling, which will aid in the verification of the historical data. An updated historical resource that was generated by Occidental subsequent to the historical resource previously published by the Company was also uncovered. Using a cut-off grade of 0.10%, this increased historical resource contained 167 million tons grading 0.41% copper, for 1.37 billion pounds of contained copper.  These resources are historical in nature, are not 43-101 compliant, and should not be relied upon.  They are cited here for geological purposes only.

Following the closing of the acquisition, the Company's initial work will consist of generating a new 43-101 compliant mineral resource through new drilling and data verification.  Subsequent work will examine the feasibility of recovering the copper using in-situ leaching (ISL) methods. ISL is a non-invasive method where copper can be extracted by pumping a dilute acid solution into injection wells that dissolves the mineral which is recovered in a controlled manner by recovery wells.  ISL has been used extensively around the world for decades, and its advantages include lower capital and operating costs, no ore moved or tailings created, minimal visual disturbance, fewer permits versus other mining methods, and an ability to produce copper cathodes on site.  From a timing perspective, Van Dyke could provide for the continuity of low cost copper cathode production following the mining of the leachable copper resources at La Balsa, and the movement of the Company owned SX-EW plant to Van Dyke.

Opportunities for further resource expansion at Van Dyke include primary sulphidic copper beneath and to the east of the oxide mineralization (as intersected at a depth above 1000 m by Occidental's first hole), in massive sulphide replacement bodies that are known to exist in the district, and in a satellite porphyry area to the west where azurite has been identified outcropping over a 400 X 500 m area.  To secure mineral rights over outlying areas that might contain additional copper resources, the Company has staked 35 new federal mining claims covering approximately 600 acres contiguous with the Van Dyke property.

Exploration Projects

Exploration is ongoing at the Company's 100% owned Sombrero Butte project, a 2,887 acre property located 44 miles north-east of Tucson.  The project is located 9 miles east of the San Manuel Mine (14 billion lbs Cu), and 2 miles south of Redhawk Resources' Copper Creek project (1.1 billion lbs Cu), and both Redhawk and Millrock Resources are actively drilling within 1 mile of the northern property boundary.  Sombrero Butte contains clusters of copper-bearing breccia pipes, which elsewhere in the district host economic deposits, and which overlie associated porphyry copper systems.  Between 2006 and 2008, 34 holes in two phases of drilling tested 8 of the 25 breccia pipes identified in the northwest portion of the property, with 6 of the 8 pipes tested returning significant intercepts of copper mineralization, with two of the pipes (Magna and Campstool) exhibiting strong mineralization to depths in excess of 300 m. 

Subsequent field work has identified an additional 12 breccia pipes exhibiting evidence of advanced argillic alteration and the presence of the mineral dickite in the altered breccia matrix.  Dickite is a unique blue indicator mineral which forms under acidic and high-temperature conditions, and which has been identified at multiple world-class porphyry copper deposits, including the nearby San Manuel mine.  The presence of dickite in all 12 southern breccia pipes suggests they are connected at depth to a projected common porphyry source.  Upcoming work on the property will include additional ground surveys and mapping, as well as new drilling to further test and expand the mineralization within the breccia pipes, and to test for an underlying porphyry.

Ongoing exploration drilling into the porphyry copper targets at the La Balsa and Kabba projects, along with a description of the current iron ore exploitation and iron ore exploration at La Balsa were outlined in Nov. 4 and Oct. 28, 2010 news releases.  Subsequent to the Nov. 4 release, the drilling contractor at Kabba has recommended that hole K-9 be terminated due to the ongoing difficult ground conditions. Although K-9, and its numerous splays have not yet tested the copper shell of the porphyry system, management remains confident that the hole is properly located to test the target, with the degradation of rock strength in this area being indicative of large quantities of corrosive hydrothermal fluids that circulated through the upper parts of this massive hydrothermal system.  In order to improve the success of the next hole, K-10 will be drilled about 20 meters away from K-9 in order to avoid lost drilling equipment in the deflected holes.  K-10 will be drilled with larger diameter mud rotary equipment and will be cased through the interval of weak rock prior to switching back to diamond coring.  The Company is currently seeking alternative rigs capable of drilling this larger diameter hole.

Asset Sales and Debt Restructuring

As outlined in Oct. 7 and Oct. 19, 2010 news releases, the Company has closed the sale of its Granduc property, resulting in the receipt of an additional $2 million in cash and 2.75 million shares of Castle Resources. Since the announcement of the debt restructuring with Macquarie Bank, and the initial $400,000 repayment, the Company has paid its debt down by a further $1.35 million.

Commenting on the current status of the Company, Michael Werner, CEO of the Company, stated "With our recent asset sale and our short and long term debt restructuring, we are in a much better position with which to advance all of our projects forward.  With a combination of management well tested as mine discoverers, builders, and operators and with near term production in mining friendly jurisdiction, a growing resource base through acquisition and exploration, and tremendous upside with active exploration on three compelling porphyry copper targets, Bell Copper represents tremendous value among its junior copper company peers".

For the purposes of this news release, the Qualified Person is Timothy Marsh, Ph.D., P.Eng., the Company's President.

About Bell Copper

Bell Copper is a public company with a focus on copper exploration, development and production in North America. The Company has an extensive portfolio of exploration and development projects located in some of North America's premier copper producing regions including Mexico and the Southwestern US.

More information on Bell Copper: www.bellcopper.net

On behalf of the Board of Directors of
Bell Copper Corporation

"Michael Werner"

Michael Werner, CEO & Director

"Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release."

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