Northern Peru Increases the Indicated Resources at Galeno to 765 Million Tonnes at 0.64% Copper Equivalent

Northern Peru Increases the Indicated Resources at Galeno to 765 Million Tonnes at 0.64% Copper Equivalent

Thursday, August 10th 2006

Northern Peru Copper Corp. (TSX: NOC) announces the company has received a new independent mineral resource estimate that includes results from the recently completed infill drilling program at Galeno. Indicated Resources have significantly increased by 261 million tonnes grading 0.50% copper equivalent, at a 0.4% copper equivalent cut off grade.

The new, independent mineral resource estimate at a 0.4% copper equivalent cut off is:

– 765 million tonnes grading 0.64% copper equivalent, containing 8.26 billion pounds of copper, 2.78 million ounces of gold and 236 million pounds of molybdenum as Indicated Mineral Resources.

– 98 million tonnes grading 0.48% copper equivalent, containing 0.75 billion pounds of copper, 0.36 million ounces of gold and 23 million pounds of molybdenum as Inferred Mineral Resources.

Marshall Koval, President and CEO, said, “The classification of the majority of the deposit as Indicated Resources will allow mine planning to incorporate this material in the ongoing prefeasibility study, to be completed in the fourth quarter. This will maximise the amounts of copper, gold and molybdenum to be extracted over the mine life and therefore will have a large, positive impact on the overall value of the Galeno asset.”

Indicated Resources at a 0.8% copper equivalent cut off grade in the central, near surface, high grade core zone of the deposit have slightly increased from 148Mt to 153Mt. The attached drill hole plan and cross section highlight the extents of the deposit and the near surface high grade zone.

The new mineral resource estimate is based on assay results from 45,110 meters of drilling in 141 holes of which 43 diamond drill holes totalling 13,050m (GND-06-49 through GND-06-91) comprise the most recent infill program.

Robert Sim, P.Geo., from Norwest Corporation and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, is responsible for the mineral resource estimate. This estimate will be filed in a Technical Report, compliant with NI 43-101, and posted on SEDAR within 45 days.

Northern Peru continues to evaluate and drill the adjacent Hilorico gold zone and results will continue to be reported in batches as they are received.

The Galeno project is located in the Yanacocha mining district of northern Peru, approximately 16 kilometers east of the mining operations at Yanacocha (650 million tonnes @ 1.0 g/t Au), the largest gold mine in South America. The district contains a number of major copper/gold deposits, including the Newmont/Buenaventura owned Conga project located 5 kilometers to the north (337 million tonnes @ 0.3% Cu, 0.8 g/t Au), the Peruvian government owned Michiquillay deposit (630 million tonnes @ 0.69% Cu, 0.14 g/t Au) 5 kilometers to the south and the Cerro Corona project (119 million tonnes @ 0.47% Cu, 1 g/t Au) currently under construction by Gold Fields and located 35 kilometers to the north(2).

Mr. Marshall Koval, P.Geo., the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 for the Galeno project, has reviewed and approved the content of this press release.

(2) The mineral resource estimates listed in the table above are based upon publicly available information. The cut off and copper equivalent grades used in the various resource estimates may not be directly comparable to the Galeno resource estimate. In addition, certain comparable resource estimates may not comply with NI 43-101.

To view the maps accompanying this press release please click on the following links:

http://www.ccnmatthews.com/docs/NOCa.jpg

http://www.ccnmatthews.com/docs/NOCb.jpg

NORTHERN PERU COPPER CORP.

Marshall Koval, CEO & President

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: 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 future production or resource potential, exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that Northern Peru expects to occur, 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 commodity prices, exploration successes, and 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. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission permits U.S. mining companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only those mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. We use certain terms on this (website or press release or relevant disclosure document), such as “measured resources”, “indicated resources”, and “inferred resources”, that the SEC guidelines strictly prohibit U.S. registered companies from including in their filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form File No. 20F, which may be secured from us, or from the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.

Contacts: Northern Peru Copper Corp. David Strang VP Corporate Development (604) 687-0407 (604) 687-7041 (FAX) dstrang@northernperu.com

www.northernperu.com

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