Ascendant Copper Corporation Commences Drilling on Its Chaucha Copper/Moly Project in Ecuador

Ascendant Copper Corporation Commences Drilling on Its Chaucha Copper/Moly Project in Ecuador

Ascendant Copper Corporation announced today that the Company has initiated a 6,000 meter diamond drill program on its Chaucha copper/molybdenum porphyry project in Southern Ecuador. The budget for this exploration program is US$1.8 million. The first drill is on site and two larger drill rigs are scheduled to arrive by the end of this month. A five kilometer access road to the exploration camp has been completed, and the camp is fully functional. High speed internet has been established at camp and at the exploration headquarters office in the nearby village of San Antonio.

All permits and environmental studies supporting this exploration program are approved and in place. Social programs have been ongoing for several months, and the Chaucha Project is considered by the government to be a showcase for working with local communities and governments.

Gary Davis, President of Ascendant, stated, “The exploration program is designed to be two-fold in nature. The objective of the initial drilling is to verify and expand the existing supergene resource identified by historical drilling at the Naranjos and the Gur Gur areas of the Chaucha Project. There are five known zones of surface anomalous copper at Chaucha, three of which returned positive historical drill results (Naranjos, Gur Gur, and Pita Media) and two zones (Loma de Tunas and the Ridge) which demonstrate highly anomalous copper and molybdenum soils. Subsequent drilling will test these five zones to determine whether they represent a roof to a deep-seated, high-grade porphyry copper system.”

Drilling commenced on September 11, 2006. The first drillhole, NA-01, is a 100-meter step-out from the Naranjos porphyry copper enrichment blanket, which has a drill-indicated resource of 120-125 million tons at an average grade of between 0.4% to 0.5% copper (Cu) (at a Cu cutoff grade of 0.3%) and 0.02% to 0.04% molybdenum, according the compliant report (2) prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101″), compliant report (2).

Drillhole NA-01 is at a depth of 117 meters. From 2 to 54 meters, drilling encountered supergene enriched copper (chalcocite replacing pyrite and chalcopyrite). Assays are pending; however, visually the mineralization encountered in drillhole NA-01 is similar in mineralization and alteration to the drill-indicated enrichment blanket of the Naranjos deposit. This enrichment zone is terminated at 54 meters by a post enrichment fault, below which intense physically altered porphyry has been encountered. This porphyry began with an estimated 3-5% pyrite content with noticeable molybdenite. By a depth of approximately 90 meters, mineralization had changed to lower total sulfide content by volume, but the presence of chalcopyrite had increased from trace to an estimated 1-2% content by volume.

John R. King, Ascendant’s Executive Advisor, is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, and has supervised the exploration program and reviewed the technical information that forms this new release.

Ascendant’s principal business is the exploration for copper in Ecuador. The Company has two primary properties including its Junin Project located in northern Ecuador, a copper-molybdenum, gold and silver porphyry property with an inferred mineral resource of 982 million tonnes grading 0.89% copper, 0.04% molybdenum and 1.9 grams per ton of silver, at a 0.4% copper cut-off grade (1). The Company has commenced drilling on its Chaucha property located in southern Ecuador, a copper-molybdenum porphyry containing an inferred resource of 216 million tonnes with 2.2 billion pounds of copper at 0.46% and 0.03% molybdenum at a 0.20% copper cut-off grade (2). Ascendant recently purchased the Telimbela copper/molybdenum property in south/central Ecuador, which project is in the early stages of exploration.

Ascendant Copper Corporation “Gerald E. (Gary) Davis”

President and CEO

(1) See http://www.sedar.com “Technical Report Review of the Quartz Porphyry- Hosted Copper-Molybdenum Mineralisation at Junin, Otavalo, Ecuador” prepared by Qualified Person, Paul D. Gribble, C. Eng., Senior Mineral Resources Geologist, of Micon International Co Limited (“Micon”). (2) See http://www.sedar.com “Technical Report dated April 8, 2005, and amended August 5, 2005, Review of the Quartz Porphyry-Hosted Copper-Molybdenum Mineralisation at Chaucha, Cuenca, Ecuador” prepared by Qualified Persons, Paul D. Gribble, C. Eng., Senior Mineral Resources Geologist, and David T. Wells, Senior Metallurgist, of Micon. The Chaucha property is presently classified only as a geologic mineral property. (3) Because of the uncertainty that may attach to these preliminary estimates, it cannot be assumed that all or any part of this reported mineralization will be upgraded to a mineral resource category as a result

of continued exploration2.

The Toronto Stock Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Distributed by Filing Services Canada and retransmitted by Market Wire

Contact:

Company contact: Gary E. Davis President

303-824-0271

10920 West Alameda Avenue, Suite 201 Lakewood, CO 80226 Tel: (303) 824-0271

Fax: (303) 297-0538

http://www.ascendantcopper.com

Email Contact

Source: Ascendant Copper Corporation

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