Happy Creek Commences Exploration on Its Highland Valley and Cariboo Properties

Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:HPY) (the "Company") is pleased to
announce that exploration has commenced on its Highland Valley and Cariboo
properties.


Highland Valley

Geological mapping is underway at the 100% owned Rateria and West Valley
properties that are located in BC approximately 10 kilometres southeast and
southwest, respectively, from Teck's Highland Valley copper concentrator, the
third largest in North America. Exploration in this area has been on-going on a
sporadic, fragmented and cursory basis since 1958, but success has been limited
by access difficulties, extensive glacial till cover and inferior technologies.
During the past two years, extensive logging activity has occurred on the
Rateria and West Valley properties due to the Pine Beetle epidemic. New logging
roads have uncovered several outcrops containing copper mineralization. This
recent logging activity assists in the collection of new geological information
that is both cost-effective and valuable for planning and focusing direction of
exploration and drilling.


Happy Creek is the first to use the 3 Dimensional Induced Polarization (3D IP)
geophysical surveys in the Highland Valley. On the Rateria property, this type
of survey has successfully identified two new copper zones. Results from Zone 1
include 100.0 metres grading 0.29% copper, 84.0 metres of 0.30% copper, and 10.4
metres grading 1.55% copper. Several holes ended in copper mineralization.
Results from Zone 2 include 177.0 metres grading 0.37% copper including 27.0
metres grading 1.05% copper, 0.02% molybdenum, 5.0 g/t (grams per tonne) silver
and 0.24 g/t gold as well as 153.1 metres containing 0.24% copper, including
17.5 metres containing 1.12% copper. The intercepts from Zone 2 are two hundred
metres apart and remain undefined and open in extent. Drilling is planned to
follow-up on Zone 1 and 2 and test several other prospective new targets
identified by the 3D IP survey.


With the recovery in copper prices from lows of around US$1.30/lb to the current
price of approximately US$2.75/lb, the Company has plans to resume drilling at
Rateria this fall. Exploration permit applications have been filed for the
drilling of up to twenty-six diamond drill holes with drilling planned to
commence once the permits are granted.


At the West Valley property, the current geological mapping program is intended
to discover new mineralized prospects as well as advance known mineralized
prospects which include approximately 10 metres grading 0.7% copper and 6 metres
grading 0.4% copper in historical trenches. This mapping will assist in planning
the first 3D IP geophysical survey for this area.


Cariboo

The Company has initiated prospecting and geochemical sampling surveys on the
Art-DL property located northeast of 100 Mile House, B.C. Soil geochemical
surveys have been collected near the southern side of the property,
approximately 1.5 kilometres north of Skygold Venture's new Thunder Ridge gold
prospect. The DL property is underlain by similar geology as the Thunder Ridge
and Spanish Mountain gold properties located to the south and north,
respectively. The DL property contains historical (1890s) workings that returned
assays up to 42.9 g/t gold. Current soil and silt sampling have identified
positive gold values over a 1.5 kilometre trend.


The Company is undertaking further geochemical surveys and prospecting to expand
upon the positive molybdenum, tungsten, copper, gold and silver geochemical
results returned from the Company's Silverboss, Fox and Hen properties.
Trenching is anticipated to begin shortly on the Hen property, where a 3D IP
geophysical survey, soil and rock geochemical surveys and geology have returned
positive results, including 3.5 metres grading 3.5 g/t gold and grab samples
containing up to 35.1 g/t gold that remain undefined and open in extent.


On behalf of the Board of Directors,

David E Blann, P.Eng., President

David Blann, P.Eng. is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument
43-101 and is responsible for the preparation and approval of the technical
information disclosed in the news release.