Bear Creek announces positive Scoping Study and updated resource estimate at Santa...

Bear Creek announces positive Scoping Study and updated resource estimate at
Santa Ana deposit annual production of 4.6 million ounces silver; high rates
of return

VANCOUVER, April 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Bear Creek Mining (TSX Venture:
BCM) ("Bear Creek" or the "Company") is very pleased to announce the results
of a positive Scoping Study and Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) as
defined by NI-43-101 based on the latest resource estimate update for the
Company's 100% owned Santa Ana silver deposit located in southern Peru.
Highlights of this study include:

- Pure silver producer averaging 4.6 million ounces per year over 11.8
years in a heap leach operation and 5 million ounces per year for the
first 6 years of operation.
- Cash cost of $7.47 per ounce silver
- Capital cost of $51 million with a two and a half year payback
- The net present value is $55 million at a 7% discount rate for Bear
Creek's 100% interest and the internal rate of return for the project
is 29%.
- The undiscounted after tax NPV is $115 million
- Measured and Indicated resources have increased 19% to 66.8 million
tonnes at 45.5 g/t silver containing 97.7 million ounces of silver. .
- PEA focuses on only 42.4MT grading 56.7 g/t silver (includes 25%
inferred resources), leaving upside for expansion and high leverage
to silver prices

Santa Ana is located 140 kilometers south of the city of Puno, 20 kilometers
south of the paved highway connecting to the port of Ilo, Peru. Bear Creek
holds a 100% interest in 6,300 hectares covering the mineral deposits, all
surrounding exploration potential, and necessary project infrastructure.
Infrastructure is considered excellent with ample heap leach pad space
including future expansions, two power supply alternatives and, available
water; these being the most critical components for a heap leach project.
Community relations are very favorable.
The project involves a 10,000 tonnes per day mining rate utilizing contract
mining, two-stage mobile crushers, cyanide leaching, and Merrill-Crowe
recovery to produce a high-grade silver dore product. Recovered silver
production in the first six years is 5.0 million ounces/year and the project
will produce an average of 4.6 million ounces of silver annually over an 11.8
year mine-life. Cash cost per ounce of silver is $7.47. Capital investment in
the project is estimated to be $51M including feasibility study, engineering,
permitting and EIS costs. Based upon $13 per ounce silver, the project
achieves payback of capital in 2.6 years. The PEA has been prepared using cost
estimates and production forecasts provided by independent qualified
engineering consulting groups, led by Independent Mining Consultants, Tucson,
AZ. Heap leach and infrastructure costs were provided by Vector Engineering,
Lima, Peru and process costs were provided by Resource Development Inc.,
Denver, CO.
Andrew Swarthout, President and CEO, states, "The placing of economic
parameters around the Santa Ana deposit represents a significant milestone for
Bear Creek as we can now speak to developing two large, economically robust
silver deposits containing over 450 million ounces of silver in measured and
indicated resources, which includes Corani. The scoping study demonstrates
that Santa Ana has the capacity to become a significant and robust silver
producer and a project that can be placed into production in a short time
frame given that the deposit outcrops at surface and the silver will be
recovered utilizing low-cost, conventional heap leach pads adjacent to the
open pit mine. This mine plan focuses on the high grade, near surface parts of
the deposit; however, the mine plan is easily modified to react to higher
silver prices and mine the approximately 61.9 million ounces in total resource
not captured in the PEA. Importantly, we have worked very closely with our
independent consultants to develop designs that minimize capital while
maintaining international standards for safety and environmental protection."
The new resource estimate on which the PEA is based, updated as of April 2009
by Independent Mining Consultants (IMC), Tucson, AZ, shows significant growth
of Measured and Indicated resources. Additionally, the new model increased the
certainty of the resource estimate by converting an additional 19% of the
total tonnes from inferred into measured and indicated categories. The
continued conversion of inferred resource into measured and indicated
categories supports the continuity of the mineralization and suggests that
large, well-established reserves will be possible with very limited in-fill
drilling.

SCOPING STUDY AND PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT

The scoping study determines that the project has a number of favorable
characteristics:

- Positive economics with excellent exposure to up-side silver prices
- Well-defined resources open to expansion and convertible to reserves
- 75% of the PEA resource is contained in measured and indicated
categories
- Very straight forward construction and development
- Produce metal dore on site so smelter contracts and concentrate
shipping is not an issue
- 61.9M oz silver were not included in the PEA plan but could be
incorporated into expanded operation or added to the end of the mine
life if metal prices remain strong
- Favorable infrastructure; power, access, and available water supply
- Well-defined permitting path

The PEA is based upon mining assumptions derived from mine planning sequences
completed by IMC and metallurgical test work performed by McClelland labs and
reviewed by Resource Development Inc. The mining sequence derives ore from the
higher-grade near surface parts of the deposit throughout the mine life and
leaves 33.7 tonnes of measured and indicated tonnes of ore and 16.3 tonnes of
inferred ore behind that could be produced by reduction of cutoff and
extension to mine life should metal prices increase. The site infrastructure
can easily be expanded to accommodate the inclusion of all the resources
should economic conditions warrant the expansion of the project above what is
shown in the PEA plan. All resource categories were used, including Inferred
resources. Note that in the mine sequence, only 42.3M tonnes of the 92.3M
contained in the global resource tonnes are processed.

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Key Assumptions for the Santa Ana Project - Base Case
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Item
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Annual ore production - years 1 to end of life (tonnes) 3,600,000
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Overall Process Recovery - Silver 70%
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Total Processed Tonnes 42,350,000
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Average Silver Grade (g/t) 56.7 g/t
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Recovered ounces of silver (total) 54.0 million
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Overall stripping ratio 2.0 to 1
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Life of mine (processing) years 11.8
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Sensitivity to silver prices- The following represents plus/minus 10%
silver price variance:

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Silver Price IRR NPV (7%)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
$13 29% $55M
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$14.30 39% $83M
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$11.70 19% $28M
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Note: in accordance with NI43-101, mineral resources that are not mineral
reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The preliminary
assessment includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too
speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them
that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no
certainty that the preliminary assessment will be realized.

RESOURCE ESTIMATE

The Scoping Study/PEA is based upon an updated resource estimation and mine
sequencing performed in April 2009 by IMC based upon 55,575 meters of drilling
in 306 diamond drill holes completed through December 2009. For the global
resource, a metal price of $13 per ounce was used for silver and the resource
is contained with a pit that was defined using prudent operating assumptions.
No recovery of lead and zinc is assumed in the definition of the resource or
PEA pits because silver will be recovered using a heap leaching process;
therefore, the lead and zinc will not be recovered. To determine the final pit
limits for the production schedule for the scoping study $10 per ounce for
silver was used. This results in a production plan that generates higher
grades and less tonnes than the global resource. The sequencing assumptions
used in the PEA are conservative and significant silver contained in the
global resource represent up-side potential as process recoveries are improved
and/or metals prices continue to strengthen.

The current resource estimates are:

Bear Creek Mining, Santa Ana Project
Mineral Resource Based on 20 g/t Ag cut-off and Prudent Open Pit
Constraints
April 2, 2009

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Contained Metal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deposit Category Ktonnes Silver Lead Zinc Silver Lead Zinc
Million Million Million
Gm/t % % Ozs Lbs Lbs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Santa Measured 14,240 48.8 0.35 0.64 22.3 109.9 200.9
Ana Indicated 52,597 44.6 0.32 0.55 75.4 371.1 637.8
--------- ------ ---- ---- ---- ---- ----- -----
Meas+Ind 66,837 45.5 0.33 0.57 97.7 481.0 838.7

Inferred 25,454 50.6 0.36 0.52 41.4 202.0 291.8

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Bear Creek Mining, Santa Ana Project
High Grade Core Contained in Smaller Open Pit Shapes
Resource Component Used in PEA Mine Plan
28 gm/t Silver Cutoff
20 April 2007

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contained Metal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deposit Category Ktonnes Silver Lead Zinc Silver Lead Zinc
Million Million Million
Gm/t % % Ozs Lbs Lbs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Santa Measured 7,871 59.8 0.39 0.73 15.1 67.7 126.7
Ana Indicated 25,307 52.6 0.34 0.58 42.8 189.7 323.6
--------- ------ ---- ---- ---- ---- ----- -----
Meas+Ind 33,178 54.3 0.35 0.62 57.9 257.4 450.3

Inferred 9,175 65.5 0.36 0.55 19.3 72.8 111.3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: The cutoff grade was varied over the mine life with the first 10 years
using 28 gm/t cutoffs to the stockpile. The last 1.8 years of the mine plan
applied a 22 gm/t cutoff.

The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy
or accuracy of this release.

Regulatory footnotes:

All of Bear Creek's exploration programs and pertinent disclosure of a
technical or scientific nature are prepared by or prepared under the direct
supervision Marc Leduc, P. Eng., Senior Vice President of Engineering and
Development and/or the President and CEO, Andrew Swarthout, P.Geo., who serve
as the Qualified Persons under the definitions of NI 43-101. The block model
estimate was prepared by Independent Mining Consultants of Tucson Arizona.
John Marek P.E. acted as the independent qualified person as defined by
Canada's National Instrument 43-101. Additionally the methods used in
determining and reporting the resources are consistent with the CIM Best
Practices Guidelines for the estimation of mineral resources and mineral
reserves. The method used in the resource calculation is equivalent to the
method used in the resource calculation shown in our September 4, 2008 Press
Release. For this resource estimate we have used metal prices based on a
3-year backward average and a 2-year forward price based on the current metal
markets, Assumptions used in the resource model by IMC. Actual results will
vary based upon completion of metallurgical testing: Silver Price= $13.00/oz;
Silver Recovery= 65%; Zinc Recovery= 0%; Lead Recovery= 0%; Smelter charges:
Silver= $0.50 per ounce; Mining Costs per tonne= $1.20; Process plus G&A cost
per tonne= $5.00; Pit Slopes= 40 degrees in all rock types. All diamond
drilling has been performed using HQ diameter core with recoveries averaging
greater than 95%. Core is logged and split on site under the supervision of
Bear Creek geologists. Sampling is done on two-meter intervals and samples are
transported by Company staff to Juliaca, Peru for direct shipping to ALS
Chemex, Laboratories in Lima, Peru. ALS Chemex is an ISO 9001:2000-registered
laboratory and is preparing for ISO 17025 certification. Silver, lead, and
zinc assays utilize a multi-acid digestion with atomic absorption ("ore-grade
assay method"). The QC/QA program includes the insertion every 20th sample of
known standards prepared by SGS Laboratories, Lima. A section in Bear Creek's
website is dedicated to sampling, assay and quality control procedures.
Certain disclosure in this release, including management's assessment of Bear
Creek's plans and projects, constitutes forward-looking statements that are
subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to Bear
Creek's operation as a mineral exploration company that may cause future
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such
forward-looking statements. *Any reference to the potential quantity & grade
of mineralization at Corani is conceptual in nature, there has been
insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource on the property and it
is uncertain if further exploration will result in discovery of a mineral
resource on the property. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements. Bear Creek expressly disclaims any intention or
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Bear Creek Mining Corporation

Andrew Swarthout, President and CEO, or Patrick De Witt, Investor Relations,
Phone: (604) 685-6269, Direct: (604) 628-1111, E-mail:
info@bearcreekmining.com; For further information, please visit the Company's
website (www.bearcreekmining.com)