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Bear Creek Announces Drilling Start Up on Piedra Sagrada Gold Targets, Peru

Posted on: Monday, 8 September 2008, 09:00 CDT

VANCOUVER, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bear Creek Mining (TSX Venture: BCM) ("Bear Creek" or the "Company") is pleased to present its Piedra Sagrada Gold (Copper) Project located in Apurimac Department, Peru. Following significant efforts to consolidate Bear Creek's land position in a large, untested epithermal gold/porphyry copper district, Phase I drilling will commence in early September.

Piedra Sagrada is located approximately 13 km east of Southern Copper's Los Chancas copper porphyry deposit and is comprised of highly fractured quartzites and intrusive rocks from which approximately 100 informal miners are extracting hand-sorted gold mineralization for direct shipment to a local buyer. Gold mineralization occurs in sub-vertical structures aggregating to highly fractured zones as much as 200m wide. Shallowly-dipping mantos (bedding replacement deposits) parallel to the quartzite bedding are also present, adding to the bulk-tonnage target potential of the zones. The north-south structural corridor along which mineralization is found measures approximately 9 kilometers long by up to 1.5 kilometers wide. To date, 218 surface rock-chip samples have been collected with 75 assaying greater than 100ppb gold and, of those, 40 assaying greater than 1g/t gold (highs of 25.8 and 29.5g/t gold). Two initial gold targets have been selected for first-pass drilling, each approximately 400 meters by 200 meters in size.

In addition, quartz monzonite intrusive with disseminated copper and molybdenum underlie the gold mineralization exposed in a valley approximately 500 meters below the outcropping gold mineralization. Sparse outcrop samples contain 0.33% copper and 0.01% molybdenum indicating a potential disseminated copper-molybdenum target located beneath the epithermal gold mineralization. The Los Chancas deposit reportedly contains over 200MT grading 0.62% copper and 0.05% molybdenum and is currently under development by Southern Copper.

Field crews continue mapping and sampling to generate additional drill targets within the Company's 5,600 hectare land position. Initial drilling will be comprised of 1,000 meters in seven drill holes. Additional drilling will be designed pending initial drill results and further field results.

Andrew Swarthout, Chief Executive Officer, states "Piedra Sagrada represents another high quality target coming out of our aggressive generative efforts. These programs have resulted in two significant silver deposits, Corani and Santa Ana, being discovered over the past three years. We remain confident in our ability to continue to identify, acquire, and drill test high-quality precious metal prospects in early-stage exploration representing excellent value-add potential. Our shareholders can expect additional new drill prospects in the near future as Bear Creek has the expertise, experience and financial resources to take advantage of the increased opportunities for discovery that these currently difficult market conditions have presented."

Bear Creek can earn 100% of the two properties that comprises Piedra Sagrada by making escalating payments totaling US$10.1M over 4 years. There is a commitment for investing a minimum of US$350K in an exploration program during the 4 years of the option term. Once one of the properties is transferred to Bear Creek, a 2.0% NSR will be granted to the optionor. The NSR payments are capped to a maximum of US$18M.

The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Regulatory footnotes:

All of Bear Creek's exploration programs and pertinent disclosure of a technical or scientific nature are prepared by or prepared under the direct supervision of Marc Leduc, P. Eng., Sr. Vice President of Engineering and Development and the President and CEO, Andrew Swarthout, P.Geo., who serve as the Qualified Persons under the definitions of NI 43-101

Certain disclosure in this release, including management's assessment of Bear Creek's plans and projects, constitutes forward-looking statements that are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to Bear Creek's operation as a mineral exploration company that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors are disclosed in Bear Creek's continuous disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulators including its most recent annual information form, available on http://www.sedar.com/. Bear Creek expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Bear Creek Mining Corporation

CONTACT: Andrew Swarthout - President and CEO, or Patrick De Witt -Investor Relations, Phone: (604) 685-6269, Direct: (604) 628-1111, E-mail:info@bearcreekmining.com; please visit the Company's website(http://www.bearcreekmining.com/)

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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