Mining of New Copper Ore at Johnson Camp Copper Mine

TUCSON, AZ - Nord Resources Corporation reported that it has commenced the mining of new ore at its Johnson Camp Mine near Tucson.
"We have met our milestones for reactivating the Johnson Camp Mine," said John Perry, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We have commenced mining, crushing and stacking new ore on the leach pads."
"This puts us on schedule for the production of copper cathode from new ore for this quarter and to meet our plan to achieve a production rate of 25 million pounds of copper per year by this spring," he said.
"This is exciting progress for the Nord Resources' team," Perry noted. "On February 1, 2008, we began commercial copper production from residual leaching from ore heaps that had been mined in past years. During 2008, we produced approximately 2.9 million pounds of copper from residual leaching, but this was a relatively expensive process on a unit cost basis as the result of the low yield realized from leaching old ore."
"With our successful reactivation of the mining and processing of new ore, and the anticipated higher yield from leaching new ore, we expect to see steady and fairly dramatic reduction in our unit costs. We also anticipate to benefit from the marked decline in the price of sulfuric acid which is one of our largest operating costs. The price for sulfuric acid has declined from a peak in 2008 of US$450 per ton to less than US$100 per ton," Perry said.
Fisher Industries of Dickenson, North Dakota, is acting as the mining contractor for the Johnson Camp Mine.
Additionally, the Company has elected not to proceed with its option to acquire the Coyote Springs exploration property in Arizona. The Coyote Springs property is not material to the Company's overall operations. The Company plans to focus its primary exploration efforts at Johnson Camp.
The company's address is 1 West Wetmore Road, Suite 203 Tucson, Arizona 85705, 520.292.0266, fax: 520.292.0268, email: [email protected].