Monday, November 03, 2008
Vancouver, B.C.: Bell Copper Corporation (the "Company") (TSX-V Symbol: BCU) announces it will be conducting a non-brokered private placement of up to 15,000,000 units ("Units") at a price of $0.10 per Unit to raise proceeds of up to $1,500,000.
Each Unit will consist of one common share and one share purchase warrant, with each warrant entitling the holder to acquire one additional common share at a price of $0.20 per share for a period of one year from closing. The Unit Warrant is subject to the right of the Company to accelerate the exercise period for the Unit Warrants if the common shares of the Company trade above $0.40 for a period of 10 consecutive trading days.
The proceeds of the private placement will be used for drill testing the identified porphyry targets at the Company's La Balsa copper project in Michoacan, Mexico and Kabba molybdenum/copper project in Mohave County, Arizona as well as for general working capital purposes.
The Company intends to pay a finder's fee incidental to the financing in accordance with Exchange policies. The private placement and payment of a finder's fee are subject to TSX Venture Exchange acceptance.
La Balsa Copper Porphyry Target Potential
To date, the emphasis of the La Balsa drilling programs has been the delineation of near surface oxide and sulphide resources with maximum drillhole depths to 170 metres. Exploration has now defined three apparently separate copper systems: (1) The La Balsa deposits, (2) the El Reyno deposit, and (3) the Railroad West target, separated by distances of less than 2 kilometers. These systems are similar in terms of their copper mineralogy, their sericitic and potassic alteration, and their relationship to monzonite porphyry intrusions. It is believed that these systems are part of a single, much larger buried porphyry system.
The widespread presence of brecciation throughout La Balsa Ridge is difficult to explain except by invoking a deeper, larger and untested source. Brecciation accompanied by pyrite mineralization extends to the west and north far beyond the limits of copper-rich mineralization in breccia. The quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration within the monzonite is extensive, consistent with the idea that this alteration is part of a pyrite halo surrounding a larger porphyry copper system. Geophysical data, including induced polarization (IP) and aeromagnetic data, indicate that the alteration with sulphides extends significantly beyond current drilling depths.
Two profound aeromagnetic lows occur southwest of the known deposits. These lows mimic the trend of mineralization in the district. The La Virgen deposit is cut-off at depth by a thrust fault, which has significant offset and therefore continues beneath the limits of drilling of the other deposits. Regional structural movements in the district are northeasterly. There is a good probability that the thrust has displaced the upper block approximately 0.5km in this direction, in which case the known breccia deposits were originally situated over one of the magnetic lows. The magnetic lows are interpreted to be caused by a large porphyry copper system situated beneath the thrust fault.
This structural interpretation suggests that the porphyry target is blind. Disseminated chalcopyrite in K-feldspar stable monzonite porphyry was recently found at the Railroad West anomaly, located above the magnetic low anomaly. Copper mineralization is more extensive than previously known at this location; exposures are poor and much of the area is covered by rocks that mask mineralization on the south flank of La Balsa Ridge. Taken together this evidence suggests a shallow porphyry target at La Balsa.
In order to test this porphyry target, the Company plans to drill three diamond drillholes to depths of at least 600 meters. The drillholes will be spaced at approximately 500-meter intervals along the long axis of the magnetic low anomaly. The total cost for the program will be $300,000 and it will take 6 weeks to complete. Drilling contractors are available in the area and the Company currently has technical staff at La Balsa to oversee the program.
Kabba Porphyry Target, Arizona
The Company has performed extensive geological, geochemical, and geophysical surveys followed by initial diamond drilling at the Kabba project in Mohave County, Arizona. These activities have supported the Company's target concept of a large, buried Mo-Cu porphyry within the Company's land holdings.
The Phase I drilling program targeted the down-faulted top of this large copper-molybdenum porphyry system. This initial drill program consisted of four diamond holes drilled to an average depth of approximately 900 metres for a total of 3630 meters.
All four drillholes showed geological indications of proximity to a porphyry molybdenum-copper system such as sericitic or potassic alteration and Cu-Fe-Mo sulfide mineralization. The drillholes were spread over an area of 1.3 kilometers by 3.3 kilometers, reflecting the large size of the target and the large magnitude of horizontal slip on the Hualapai fault, the principal fault that has decapitated the porphyry Mo-Cu system. The final drillhole in the series cut over 900 meters of sericitized rock including more than 20 sericitized porphyry dikes and sparse quartz-molybdenite veinlets. The overburden thickness in this drillhole was 100 meters.
In the first half of 2008, Bell Copper performed detailed work programs including further mapping and geochemistry. Integration of this new surface data with diamond drill data supports the Company's proposition that the target at Kabba is a large molybdenum/copper porphyry system at a potentially shallow depth. The dimensions of the 3 kilometer by 5 kilometer target are similar to the 15-square-kilometer area of surface alteration and Mo-Cu mineralization in the outcropping root zone located west of the property. The Company is encouraged by the presence of subtle geological features such as minette dikes, nickel-rich veinlets, and elevated fluorine concentrations that are also noted in some of the larger known productive porphyries like Bingham Canyon, El Teniente, and Resolution.
The Company has completed archaeological surveys and permitting on eight drill sites over the target area. The next phase of diamond drilling will test at least three of these sites to depths of up to 1000 meters. The drilling campaign is expected to cost less than $500,000 and will take about 3 months to complete. Diamond drilling contractors are available to complete the program, and the Company has the technical staff to oversee the project.
Timothy Marsh, P.E., PhD, the Company's VP of Exploration, is a Qualified Person as defined in NI43-101, and he has reviewed and approved the technical matter in this release.
Bell Copper - Value through Production & Discovery
Bell Copper is focused on the exploration of its portfolio of porphyry copper targets situated in some of the world's premier copper producing regions along with the development through partnership of the La Balsa copper mine in Michoacan, Mexico & the Granduc copper mine in British Columbia, Canada.
More information on Bell Copper: www.bellcopper.net
On behalf of the Board of Directors of
Bell Copper Corporation
Brian Leeners
Brian Leeners, CFO & Director
For further information please contact the Company
Tel: 604 669-1484 or email: info@bellcopper.net
THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the 'safe harbor' provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties
You can also view this News Release on our website at:
http://www.bellcopper.net/s/News_Releases.asp?ReportID=326551