Venture Agreement With Rochester Resources Ltd.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, November 21, 2008 - On behalf of the Board of Directors of Cooper Minerals Inc. (TSX-Venture: CQ; FSE: JM6) ("Cooper Minerals" or "Optionee") Simon Tam, President and CEO, is pleased to announce that a Joint Venture Agreement has been signed with Rochester Resources Ltd. ("Rochester" or "Optionor") to acquire 10% equity interest in the Mina Real Mexico S.A. de C.V. and thereby acquire indirect interests in the Mina Real and Santa Fe gold and silver properties.
Pursuant to the Joint Venture Agreement, Cooper will have an Option to earn a 10% interest by making payments of $1,475,000 and subscribing for 3,500,000 common shares of Rochester at a deemed price of $0.15 per share equalling $525,000.
Upon the exercise of the Option all Net Profit received by the Optionor from the Properties shall be divided on a 90% / 10% basis, between Optionor and Optionee, respectively. Furthermore the Optionee will be subject to a "Gross Overriding Advance Royalty" of $25,000 per month paid free and clear of any and all cost or expense incurred in connection with the operation of the Mina Real Property payable by the Optionor to Optionee.
Upon exercise of the Option by Optionee, the Optionee shall be deemed to have granted to the Optionor a Back-In Option, to re-acquire in whole and not in part the Equity Interest in Mina Real Mexico S.A. de C.V. The Back-In Option shall have a term of 3 years wherein: During year 1 the Back-In Option shall not be exercisable; During year 2 the Back-In Option shall be exercisable by a cash payment of $2,075,000; and During year 3 the Back-In Option shall be exercisable by a cash payment of $2,000,000. The completion of the Joint Venture Agreement and financing is subject to receipt of all applicable regulatory approvals and consents, including the approval of the TSX-Venture.
The proceeds of the Joint Venture Agreement and financing will be used for the exploration and development of Rochester's mineral properties, the Mina Real gold and silver project in particular, and for general corporate purposes.
About Rochester Resources Ltd. and Mina Real Gold and Silver Project:
Rochester represents a pure-play in the exploration, development and production of high-grade gold and silver properties located in Nayarit, Mexico. The Company is a niche player in Mexico which has assembled an attractive portfolio of properties in the Sierra Madre Occidental Range. This is the largest epithermal precious metal region in the world, hosting the majority of Mexico's large tonnage gold and silver deposits.
Rochester is well positioned to advance its Projects and can very quickly become a significant player in Mexico. Rochester has a strong senior management team based in Mexico, a workforce in place to advance its projects through to mine development.
Rochester holds 100% interest in the Mina Real Project, which encompasses 20,662 hectares and is made up of 7 mining concessions. The property is characterized by low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver system which is composed of quartz veins (0.3 metres to 2.0 metres width) and hydrothermal breccias. In a Technical Report prepared by Victor A. Jaramillo, M.Sc.(A), P.Geo. of Discover Geological Consultants Inc. for Rochester (please refer to www.rochesterresources.com for full report), the geological potential for the Florida-4 Vein ranges from 562,500 tonnes with grades of 4.0 grams/tonne gold and 60 grams/tonne silver to 2,250,000 tonnes with grades of 8 grams/tonne gold and 100 grams/tonne silver (cautionary statement: readers are cautioned that the potential quantity indicated is conceptual in nature. It has been provided for illustration purposes. At this time, there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource below the current inferred resources, and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the discovery of these mineral resources. The geological potential is for one vein. At Mina Real approximately 20 veins have been identified. Mssr. Jaramillo believes the potential to be considerable. Mssr. Jaramillo has reviewed and worked in several similar style mineral deposits, and through this, has gained the expertise to give a fair evaluation of the nature and distribution of the mineralization on this property. In Mssr. Jaramillo's professional opinion, the property discussed is of merit, and thus it is strongly recommended that further exploration work be undertaken).
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