El Capitan Precious Metals, Inc. Provides Status Update of Gold & Minerals Merger

El Capitan Precious Metals, Inc. announced that management of both ECPN and Gold and Minerals Company, Inc. (“G&M”) have agreed to restart the merger process which was put on hold 10 weeks ago. At the time, management of both firms had agreed that available funding would be preferentially directed towards key metallurgical investigations. In light of the recent positive metallurgical news announced earlier this month, along with availability of funding provided by G&M, ECPN has directed its lawyers to resume their efforts to prepare and file appropriate merger documents.

The revised timetable projects filing of a Form S-4 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) by the end of October. It could take several months for the SEC to declare the Form S-4 effective, and the closing of the merger should occur within 45 days from the effective date. Assuming that the previous milestones are achieved, the expected merger closing date would occur in the first quarter of 2009.

Ken Pavlich, President and C.E.O. of ECPN, stated, “While this merger has taken much longer than originally anticipated, the delay has had no negative impact on ECPN shareholders. However, in view of the continued improvements in key metallurgical information, management is convinced that having a rationalized ownership structure will facilitate anticipated future financing and/or partnership discussions.”

El Capitan Precious Metals, Inc. is a U.S.-based mineral exploration company whose primary asset is a 40% interest in the El Capitan precious metals project, located in Lincoln County, New Mexico. The Company’s stock trades on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board under the symbol ECPN.