Constellation Copper Corporation Provides Operational and Financial Update and Default Status Report

DENVER, CO, Nov. 23 /CNW Telbec/ - Constellation Copper Corporation (the "Company") (CCU:TSX) is providing an update on the status of its Lisbon Valley Mine operations and on its financial situation.

Operational Update

The Lisbon Valley Mine (LVM) has focused on three major initiatives over the past six months. The first initiative focused on the placement of copper ore available for leaching on the heap leach pad. During the past 4 1/2 months, over 28 million pounds of contained copper have been mined and placed on the heap leach pads. Of that total, 11.6 million pounds of copper contained in primary crushed ore was placed on the heap with 100-ton trucks and 16.4 million pounds of copper contained in ore that was concurrently crushed and stacked. Initial leaching of the truck dumped material began at the end of September, and most of that ore is now under leach. Mining and placement of this large inventory of ore has resulted in a significant expenditure of cash, and a resulting increase in the working capital of the mine.

Leach results to date on the trucked material appear very similar to those experienced from ore that was concurrently crushed and stacked. Although leach results over this brief time period do not provide sufficient data from which to draw definitive conclusions regarding ultimate recoveries, it does appear there is no significant difference in leach performance between the two methods of ore placement, however the overall leaching recovery rate at the LVM continues to be significantly slower than expected.

Another initiative related to the actual mining operation. Critical to the mining and placement of these large quantities of ore over the past 4 1/2 months was the improvement of the overall effectiveness of the mining operation. Total daily tonnage of ore and waste moved has increased 53% between July and November, resulting in a current average mining rate of over 56,000 tons per day.

The last major initiative was the construction and commissioning of the Intermediate Leach Solution ("ILS") system, the purpose of which is to improve the grade of the pregnant leach solution ("PLS"). Commissioning started on November 20, 2007, at an average pumping rate of about 25% of the design volume. It will take several months for the system to reach full flow capacity but initial improvement in the PLS grade is expected during December. Due to related actions, the maximum PLS flow through the solvent extraction plant has been increased by 6% at minimal cost.

Despite the increase in placement of copper on the leach pads, production for the past four months has been disappointing, resulting in sales of an average of 1.5 million pounds of copper per month. One reason for this slow production is a result of placing a higher percentage of sulfide mineralization on the leach pads, as sulfides leach significantly slower than the oxide ores LVM has been mining. Since the end of June, the sulfide portion of the copper content of the ore placed on the pad has increased from 22% to 72%. This increase was expected, as the sulfides are a major portion of the ore reserve at the LVM. The lack of a corresponding increase in sales revenue to balance the increased working capital has resulted in a significant use of cash, as has the construction of the ILS system to help alleviate the slower recovery.