Florence Copper Receives Key Pinal County Air Quality Permit

VANCOUVER, Feb. 16, 2012 /CNW/ - Curis Resources Ltd. (TSX: CUV) ("Curis" or the "Company") announces receipt of the commercial scale Air Quality Permit for the Company's Florence Copper (FC) project in central Arizona, USA.

Curis received its renewed Air Quality Permit for the commercial operations at Florence Copper from the Pinal County Air Quality Control District (PCAQCD) on February 14, 2012.  This permit provides Curis with clear guidelines to inform its design and ultimate operations of a commercial scale solvent extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) plant at the Florence Copper site.  It is valid for five years and is renewable again in 2017.

"We appreciate the professionalism and responsiveness exhibited by the officials associated with the Pinal County Air Quality Control District" stated Dan Johnson, Curis' General Manager and Vice President of Environment and Technical Services.  "The receipt of this permit is an important step for the Company and represents a key permitting milestone for the project."

"We are very pleased with our progress in permitting of the Florence Copper project" said Michael McPhie, President and CEO of Curis.  "We began the process for amending our existing operating permits for Florence Copper in February 2011 and expect to have all of our amended operating permits in place for Phase 1 operations by the third quarter of this year."

For more information about Florence Copper and its projected economic impacts and benefits to the local community, please go to www.florencecopper.com.

About Curis

Curis Resources Ltd. is a mineral development company associated with Hunter Dickinson Inc., a diversified global mining company with a 25-year history of mineral development success. Curis is focused on the acquisition, development and operation of high-quality next-generation copper properties in progressive jurisdictions around the world. It is currently focused on advancing its 100% owned Florence Project in Arizona USA to production.

For more project-level information, sign up to receive News and Updates from the Florence Copper project.

For further details on the Company, please visit www.curisresources.com or contact Susie Bell, Manager of Investor Relations, at (604) 684-6365 or within North America at 1-800-667-2114.

Michael McPhie
President & CEO

No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved of the information contained in this news release.

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that the company expects are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include fluctuations in market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary environmental, land use and other permits, approvals, licenses and title on a timely basis and delays due to third party opposition, changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com.