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Happy Creek commences exploration on its Highland Valley and Cariboo properties
August 19, 2009 -- Vancouver, British Columbia -- Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V: HPY, the "Company") is pleased to announce that exploration has commenced on its Highland Valley and Cariboo properties.
Highland Valley
Geological mapping is underway at the 100% owned Rateria and West Valley properties that are located in BC approximately 10 kilometres southeast and southwest, respectively, from Teck's Highland Valley copper concentrator, the third largest in North America. Exploration in this area has been on-going on a sporadic, fragmented and cursory basis since 1958, but success has been limited by access difficulties, extensive glacial till cover and inferior technologies. During the past two years, extensive logging activity has occurred on the Rateria and West Valley properties due to the Pine Beetle epidemic. New logging roads have uncovered several outcrops containing copper mineralization. This recent logging activity assists in the collection of new geological information that is both cost-effective and valuable for planning and focusing direction of exploration and drilling.
Happy Creek is the first to use the 3 Dimensional Induced Polarization (3D IP) geophysical surveys in the Highland Valley. On the Rateria property, this type of survey has successfully identified two new copper zones. Results from Zone 1 include 100.0 metres grading 0.29% copper, 84.0 metres of 0.30% copper, and 10.4 metres grading 1.55% copper. Several holes ended in copper mineralization. Results from Zone 2 include 177.0 metres grading 0.37% copper including 27.0 metres grading 1.05% copper, 0.02% molybdenum, 5.0 g/t (grams per tonne) silver and 0.24 g/t gold as well as 153.1 metres containing 0.24% copper, including 17.5 metres containing 1.12% copper. The intercepts from Zone 2 are two hundred metres apart and remain undefined and open in extent. Drilling is planned to follow-up on Zone 1 and 2 and test several other prospective new targets identified by the 3D IP survey.
With the recovery in copper prices from lows of around US$1.30/lb to the current price of approximately US$2.75/lb, the Company has plans to resume drilling at Rateria this fall. Exploration permit applications have been filed for the drilling of up to twenty-six diamond drill holes with drilling planned to commence once the permits are granted.
At the West Valley property, the current geological mapping program is intended to discover new mineralized prospects as well as advance known mineralized prospects which include approximately 10 metres grading 0.7% copper and 6 metres grading 0.4% copper in historical trenches. This mapping will assist in planning the first 3D IP geophysical survey for this area.
Cariboo
The Company has initiated prospecting and geochemical sampling surveys on the Art-DL property located northeast of 100 Mile House, B.C. Soil geochemical surveys have been collected near the southern side of the property, approximately 1.5 kilometres north of Skygold Venture's new Thunder Ridge gold prospect. The DL property is underlain by similar geology as the Thunder Ridge and Spanish Mountain gold properties located to the south and north, respectively. The DL property contains historical (1890s) workings that returned assays up to 42.9 g/t gold. Current soil and silt sampling have identified positive gold values over 1.5 kilometres trend.
The Company is undertaking further geochemical surveys and prospecting to expand upon the positive molybdenum, tungsten, copper, gold and silver geochemical results returned from the Company's Silverboss, Fox and Hen properties. Trenching is anticipated to begin shortly on the Hen property, where a 3D IP geophysical survey, soil and rock geochemical surveys and geology have returned positive results, including 3.5 metres grading 3.5 g/t gold and grab samples containing up to 35.1 g/t gold that remain undefined and open in extent.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
"David E Blann"
____________________
David E Blann, P.Eng.
President
David Blann, P.Eng. is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the preparation and approval of the technical information disclosed in the news release.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
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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