Bear Creek Mining announced that drilling is underway at the Carito gold - copper project. The Phase I drill program, consisting of seven drill holes for an estimated total of 2,500 meters, is primarily designed to test the two targets defined to date, an outcropping disseminated gold epithermal system hosted within sedimentary rocks and an underlying, intrusive-hosted, copper - gold porphyry system. Gold mineralization is controlled by fractured and crackle-brecciated quartzites and sandstones of the Cretaceous Chimu formation.

The Chimu formation is a well-known host for disseminated gold deposits in north central Peru (La Arena, Lagunas Norte, Santa Rosa). The sedimentary unit is intruded by at least two pervasively altered porphyries phases. Importantly, hydrothermal breccias and a phreatic-diatreme breccia have been identified which indicate abundant sources for mineralizing, hydrothermal fluids.

Values derived from one-hundred-nineteen (119) rock chip samples from the quartzites /sandstones, and intrusives range from trace to 22.1 g/t gold. Eighty-three (83) samples from the above one-hundred-nineteen samples contain greater than 50 ppb gold. Associated favorable trace elements include strongly anomalous Ag, As, Hg, Sb and W. The two altered intrusives observed to date exhibit values up to 1.06 g/t gold and 0.59% copper, indicating a possible target for a mineralized Cu-Au porphyry at depth coincident with strong Induced Polarization response suggesting high sulfide mineralization.

Drill hole assay results will be released upon completion of Phase I drilling in February/March.