VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - April 12, 2011) - AQM Copper Inc. ("AQM" or "the Company") (News - Market indicators)(BVLAC:AQM), through its wholly owned Peruvian subsidiary, Minera AQM Copper Perú S.A.C., is pleased to announce the granting of the exploration permit for the Zafranal project from the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines and the commencement of the 2011 drilling program.

AQM will begin its 2011 program shortly, once all the rigs have been mobilized to site. Five Diamond rigs and one Reverse Circulation ("RC") rig will be used during the 2011 program, which is anticipated to be completed by Q4 2011.

The 2011 drill program will consist of at least 40,000 metres of exploration Diamond and reverse circulation drilling. The initial focus will be on defining a resource at the Sicera Norte copper porphyry discovery, located approximately 10km northwest of the Main Zone. Scout RC drilling during 2010 encountered significant primary copper mineralization starting near surface. Four Diamond rigs will be mobilized to the Sicera Norte area, where approximately 30,000 metres of systematic drilling are planned.

One Diamond rig will be initially mobilized to the Main Zone, where AQM has delineated a NI43-101 compliant Measured and Indicated resource of 301Mt @ 0.47% Cu and 0.08 g/t Au (see January 13 2011 news release). Once drilling is completed on Sicera Norte, the remaining rigs will move to the Main Zone and systematically drill the eastern part of the Main Zone, where an additional 700 metres of strike length with known secondary copper mineralization has been identified, but not yet included in the NI43-101 compliant resource.

Scout drilling using the RC rig will be carried out on the remaining satellite targets, including Sicera Sur, where earlier drilling has identified encouraging results. 

Additional drill programs and technical studies will be added during the year to progress the design of a potential mine development for the Zafranal Project. AQM and its JV partner, Teck Resources Limited ("Teck"), have jointly approved a US$21 million budget to cover the exploration and pre-development work planned over the next 12 months.

The drill program is being carried out by AK Drilling International S.A. under the supervision of AQM´s exploration team. After completion of this new drill program at Zafranal, the Company anticipates updating the resource estimate on the Zafranal Main Zone and preparing an initial resource estimate for the Sicera Norte discovery.

Zafranal is located 90 km northwest of Arequipa, Southern Peru. Zafranal was first discovered by Teck in 2003 through a generative exploration program within the northern segment of Peru's Porphyry Copper Belt, which is home to several major copper deposits, such as Southern Copper´s Toquepala and Cuajone mines, Anglo American´s Quellaveco Project and Freeport- McMoRan´s Cerro Verde mine. AQM and Teck each own a 50% interest in the project, as described in the July 8, 2010 press release.

Dr. Tom Henricksen, consultant geologist of the Company and Chief Geologist for Minera AQM Copper Perú S.A.C., the Company's Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101, has approved the information contained in this news release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Bruce Turner, President and CEO