Carmacks copper project advances in the permitting process

Western Copper Corporation announces that the Carmacks Copper Project in the Yukon Territory, has moved to the next stage of the assessment process under the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act (YESAA).

On May 12, 2008, the Executive Committee of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) determined that the supplementary information submitted by Western Copper was sufficient and that the screening of the Carmacks Copper Project may continue.

Therefore, the project has moved forward to the next phase of the permitting process: “Considering Comments Complete / Developing Recommendation”.

Pursuant to the change in the project stage, YESAB now has up to 60 days (with up to further 30 days if deemed necessary) to finalize their recommendations and produce the Final Screening Report.

YESAB issued the draft screening report on the Carmacks Copper Project for public comment on December 17, 2007.

Following receipt and review of public comments, YESAB required further clarification from Western Copper in order to complete the final Screening Report and Recommendation and issued a Supplementary Information Request on February 27, 2008.

Western Copper looks forward to continuing discussions with the Yukon Government regarding the issue of a Quartz Mining License in anticipation of the release of a positive Final Screening Report.

Mr. Dale Corman, CEO and Co-Chairman of Western Copper, comments, we are very pleased with the progress and we remain committed to further consultations with the First Nation as well as the other stakeholders with a view to moving the Carmacks Copper Project forward.

The Carmacks property, located 192 km north of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, has a NI 43-101 compliant Measured and Indicated resource estimate of 16 M tonnes containing 351.7 M lb of copper, 206.6 K oz of gold and 2.1 M oz of Silver.

It is currently being developed as an open pit operation using solvent extraction/electrowinning technology (SX/EW).