NEWS RELEASE
Drilling Commences at Bursa Copper Porphyry Project, Turkey
Vancouver, B.C., July 10th, 2008. Empire Mining Corporation (EPC: TSX-V) ("Empire" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that drilling has commenced at the Bursa copper porphyry project where Empire is earning a 65% interest.
The Bursa Property is located 120km south of Istanbul and is comprised of exploration licenses, covering 429km2, within the Turkish sector of the Tethyan Metallogenic Belt which passes through southeast Europe, the Middle East and central Asia and hosts a number of important copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry deposits.
Past drilling by Rio Tinto at Bursa is limited and has been concentrated on the Karapinar and Gurculer porphyry systems. At Karapinar Drill Holes K-1 and K-2, located 200 metres apart, intercepted long intervals of mineralized porphyry including 221 metres (from surface) grading 0.36% copper, 51ppm molybdenum, and 0.1ppm gold, and 54 metres (from 273m) grading 0.31% copper, 152ppm molybdenum, and 0.07ppm gold in K-1. The porphyry body at Karapinar is open laterally and at depth. At Gurculer Drill Hole G-2 intercepted 45 metres grading 0.43% copper, 47ppm molybdenum, and 0.14ppm gold in a porphyry body which is open laterally in all directions.
The planned Empire program at Bursa includes six core holes, totaling 1900 metres, designed to confirm and expand the known porphyry copper occurrences at Karapinar and Gurculer. Other known mineralized porphyry and skarn systems at Bursa, including Demirtepe and Oylat, are concurrently being evaluated by geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys.
The Company's Qualified Person, John Prochnau, B.Sc. (Mining Engineering), M.Sc. (Geology), and a Special Advisor to Empire, has reviewed and approved the content of this news release.