Mr. Michael McPhie reports

CURIS CONFIRMS INTENTION TO INITIATE NEAR TERM DEVELOPMENT OF THE FLORENCE COPPER PROJECT

Following recent recommendations from the Town of Florence Planning and Zoning Commission on applications filed by Curis Resources Ltd. for its Florence copper property, the company has announced its intent to advance project operations in early 2012.

"Once we have finalized our operating permit updates with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a process which is currently scheduled to complete in the first quarter of 2012, the Florence copper project will commence the first phase of our in-situ copper recovery operations on State land," confirmed Michael McPhie, president and chief executive officer of Curis Resources Ltd.

Mr. McPhie noted that about one-half of the 429-million-ton copper oxide measured and indicated resource (1) hosted on Florence copper lands lies beneath a 160-acre block of state land. Curis holds the rights to recover and process minerals under a mineral lease from the state on this land parcel. The company intends to complete its feasibility study and initiate operations utilizing in-situ copper recovery (ISCR) technologies within this state land parcel next year, beginning with a phase 1 production test and ramping up to commercial production by 2014.

The Town of Florence Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z Commission), a volunteer body that makes recommendations to the town's mayor and council, heard two general plan amendment applications made on behalf of Curis at public hearings this fall. The first was an application for a text amendment to the town's general plan that would create a new overlay category to allow natural resource and alternative energy development to take place on a property within town limits. Often used by municipal planning staff and Arizona town councils to allow temporary uses of the land within respective jurisdictions, an overlay can be an effective economic development tool. The second application requested to amend the town's general plan to allow for ISCR to take place for the life of the Florence copper project, and thereafter for residential and related categories of development to apply to the property.

At a regularly scheduled hearing on Oct. 6, the P&Z Commission voted 2-2 in relation to Curis's primary application for a general plan amendment. The commission also voted 1-3 against the proposed text amendment. P&Z L. Jeff Woolley and Town of Florence community development director Mark Eckhoff acknowledged that the overlay was a creative approach to facilitating a temporary land use but that it required further definition before it could be adopted.

"The recommendations of the P&Z Commission will be forwarded to Florence town council but are not determinative of the position that council will ultimately take," said Curis legal counsel Xenia Kritsos. "We do have some concerns about procedural issues that arose both before and during the P&Z Commission hearings, and will be reviewing how we proceed with our applications in the weeks ahead."

On Aug. 24, 2011, Curis received confirmation that the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD) supports development of the Florence copper project on its landholdings. A full copy of the letter from ASLD Commissioner Maria Baier can be viewed on the company's project website.

Mr. McPhie said Curis will continue to advance detailed engineering and permitting activities to commence construction of the project on state lands in 2012, while also working with the Town of Florence to achieve an overall land use proposal that meets the desires of all Florence residents in the future. General plan amendment requests are heard at a minimum annually by cities and towns in Arizona and there is no restriction on any given application being resubmitted the following year.

"With a tie vote on our primary application from the P&Z Commission, and the consistent and strong support from residents and businesses in the community (many of whom spoke in favour of the project during these hearings), it is clear that Florence copper has tremendous potential value to the town and should be pursued and embraced," said Mr. McPhie. "Our overall project development schedule for Florence copper remains on track, as does our commitment to working with the town's staff and elected officials to make made in Florence a reality."

The technical information in this release has been reviewed by David Copeland, PEng, who is a qualified person that is not independent of the company.

(1) Measured and indicated resources are 429 million tons grading 0.331 per cent total copper at a 0.05-per-cent total copper cut-off (see news release dated Nov. 25, 2010).

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