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Bellhaven Completes Six Month Objectives, Announces Next Six Month Objectives

Posted on: Wednesday, 23 January 2008, 09:00 CST

PANAMA CITY, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Bellhaven Copper & Gold, Inc. (TSX-Venture: BHV) ("Bellhaven" or the "Company") further to its release of June 25, 2007, is pleased to announce the completion of the following corporate goals:

1. Advancement of key projects: a) A 3,600 mts, 11 hole, drill program was completed at the Cerro Chorcha Copper/Gold Property. Results have been received from 7 out of the 11 drill holes. Assay results of the remaining 4 drill holes are expected within the following weeks. Once these pending results are received an update of the NI 43-101 will be prepared. Also during this period of time our partner Dominion Minerals Corp. completed expenditures for 2.1 million US Dollars. b) Contracts to acquire the 100% ownership of the Cerro Quema Gold Deposit were executed and are being fulfilled. The Company has paid USD$3.25 million of the USD$10.4 million dollar purchase price to be paid by June 2012. A detailed Development Schedule of the Project was released during this period and is available on the website at bellhavencg.com. c) The drill program envisioned for Rio Liri, was postponed due to the extended drill program at Chorcha. Drilling at Liri is expected to begin by the end of quarter 1, 2008. d) Bellhaven continued reconnaissance and exploration work at the Azuero property package. Encouraging surface sampling results were received at several locations. e) Sampling and trenching work at the Cerro Loro application were mixed. These results are being evaluated before any additional work is planned on this application property. Results of the exploration program at the San Pedrito Concession were disappointing and no further work is planned in this concession.

2. Joint Ventures: Following are the advancements of the exploratory work in the joint ventured properties.

a) Los Hatillos/Boca de Higui: A Definitive Option Agreement was signed with Golden Cross Resources Ltd (ASX) and field work was started. A 60 kms IP survey is currently underway and is expected to be completed during quarter 1/2008. b) Viento Frio: Exploration work carried out during the past six months included surface recon sampling, trenching over anomalous targets and a topographic survey. Very encouraging trenching results were announced by our then joint venture partner Western Troy on July 09/07, including 20 mts of 1.5 g/t Au in trench 1 and 20 mts of 1.4 g/t in trench 2. A topographic survey was completed over the Viento Frio prospect. On November 22, 2007 Western Troy terminated the Joint Venture Agreement on the Viento Frio Concession. Since then, Bellhaven has been approached by multiple parties expressing interest in the property, but at this time no decision has been made to option this property and Bellhaven will be advancing the exploration work on its own.

3. Colombia Program: During the second semester of 2007 two gold properties were evaluated in detail and business discussions were underway with the Colombian property owners. These evaluations were completed in December 2007 and the discussion with one of the properties owners was terminated. Discussions to acquire the remaining property are underway.

4. Generative Exploration: No significant exploration work was carried out within the new application areas.

5. IR Program: In the second half of 2007 Bellhaven instituted a number of Investor Relations initiatives which led to the completion of two private placements for a total of CA$6.2 million and increased awareness throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The second of the two private placements was raised almost entirely from European investors and is the first of many efforts to broaden Bellhaven's investor base abroad.

Julio Benedetti, Bellhaven's President and CEO, had this to say upon completion of the above mentioned six month program:

"We were very successful in completing the Chocha drill program, having exceeded the proposed meterage. The program has corroborated our model and defined higher grade, near surface, stock work zones which extend consistently over 900 meters of strike length from the surface to a depth of at least 200 meters. We acquired the Cerro Quema gold project, an advance stage deposit, adding 451,400 ozs of measured and indicated reserves of gold to our inventory at a price of $23 per ozs. Very good trenching results were obtained in the Viento Frio Property (now 100% wholly owned by Bellhaven) and exploration work got underway at Los Hatillos/Higui property (joint ventured with Golden Cross). In Colombia we completed our evaluation of two properties and negotiations are underway with one of the property owners. Also during this time period we were able to raise CA$6.2 million dollars by two private placements and concluded the semester with more than CA$2 million dollars in cash. In sum, we are very enthusiastic about the progress Bellhaven has made over the last six months and are confident that the first semester of 2008 will be even more productive."

Objectives for the next six months:

1. Key Projects: Following are the objectives planned for the companies key projects at Cerro Chorcha, Cerro Quema, Rio Liri, Pitaloza and Viento Frio.

a) Cerro Chorcha: The Agreement with our partner Dominion Minerals Corp., requires them to expend US$7.0 millions over the next twelve months starting in March 2008. A 15,000 mts drill program is being discussed by the partner and expected to get underway in March 2008. Also the agreement calls for a USD 500,000 payment to be made to Bellhaven in March 2008. During the first semester of 2007 the NI 43-101 report will be updated incorporating the results of the last drill campaign producing a new resource estimate. b) Cerro Quema: A detailed development schedule of the Cerro Quema Gold Project was published in our news release of December 19, 2007 and is available on our website bellhavencg.com. The development work planned for the first semester of 2008 will focus on the Feasibility Study Update which will include the following: 1. A 1,400 mts geotech, condemnation and confirmation drill program. 2. Trade off study of On-off heap leach/continuous Vat Leach Process. 3. Sediment and water diversion control systems design and construction. 4. Access road maintenance and improvement. c) Rio Liri: Complete a 2,000 m drill program and update the NI 43-101 report. Drilling is expected to begin by the end Q1/2008, upon completion of the drill program at Cerro Quema. d) Pitaloza: A contract has been signed with Fugro Ground Geophysical Ltd. to perform a 20 kms line pole-dipole survey covering three drill prospects named Bejucosa, Caracucho and Cementerio all within a 2 kms radius of each other in the Pitaloza Concession. This program began on January 12, 2008 and should be completed by the end of the month. The information gathered will be used to assist in setting priorities for the drill hole location of the drill program envisioned for 2Q/08. We intend to continue our exploration and reconnaissance efforts in the Azuero property package. e) Viento Frio: Bellhaven will advance the exploration program on the Viento Frio Concession. The program will be two fold. The first phase will be a geophysical survey of approximately 6 kms lines covering the Viento Frio 1 prospect. The objective of the program is to characterize the style and dimensions of the subsurface mineralization. This phase will be done during 1Q/08. The second phase will consist of extending the survey to the Viento Frio 2 and Zahino prospects to allow modeling of the entire mineralization trend to the south-southeast of VF1. This phase is scheduled to take place during 2Q/08.

2. Joint Ventures: The work program of Golden Cross Resources, our JV partner on the Los Hatillos concession, will be to complete the geophysical survey initiated during 2007 and to commence a drill program in the targets outlined by the survey.

3. Colombia Program: Bellhaven intends to continue and conclude negotiations with the owners of a gold property being evaluated. We will also actively continue to evaluate other mineral properties in Colombia.

About Bellhaven Copper and Gold

Bellhaven Copper and Gold is one of Panama's leading exploration companies. Bellhaven controls highly prospective gold and copper concessions, totalling over 500 square kilometers, that are located in some of the most mineral-rich regions in the country. Gold has been mined in Panama as far back as the 1500's, when the Spanish extracted a million ounces of high-grade ore from the Cana mine. During modern times, the Santa Rosa and Remance gold mines operated during the 1990's and the Molejon Gold Project is scheduled to come online in 2008. Bellhaven's Cerro Quema project is slated for production in 2009. Adding greatly to the strength of the Company is the fact that many of its senior management and board members are residents and/or citizens of Panama. These individuals have a record of success and achievement, and enjoy excellent working relationships with the government, the native Indian tribes, and within the worldwide mining community.

On behalf of the board of directors, Julio C. Benedetti, President, CEO BELLHAVEN COPPER AND GOLD, INC.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Bellhaven Copper & Gold, Inc.

CONTACT: Investor Relations Contact: Miguel Villahermosa,1-866-599-5930 or AGORACOM Investor Relations,http://www.agoracom.com/IR/Bellhaven

Web site: http://www.bellhavencg.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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