Cornerstone invites investors to visit trade show

2009-01-15 08:22 ET - News Release

Mr. Colin McKenzie reports

CORNERSTONE UPDATE

Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. has a lot of financial ground to make up after the devastating close to 2008 but there are early indications that the secular commodities bull market may yet prevail over the longer term.

President and chief executive officer, Colin McKenzie, says: "Gold has remained relatively stable and I tend to agree with the many commentators and analysts who recommend gold as a haven while the Fed is creating mountains of dollars to deal with deep crisis in the United States. Base metals have also shown some life in the new year, with nickel jumping about $1 per pound. Copper and zinc prices also firmed above recent lows. Unfortunately, as most of us learned, to our detriment, the market can be sideswiped by bad news from a variety of unexpected sources and that is likely to continue in 2009. I'm probably not going out on a limb by predicting continued market volatility and general risk aversion by investors."

Cornerstone continues to closely monitor political developments in Ecuador. A workable mining law is the prerequisite to getting exploration back on track on the company's high-quality precious metal projects. Unexpectedly, the new mining received its second debate in the legislative commission on Jan. 12 and was approved by a vote of 50 to 15. Following presidential approval, the new law should be official before the end of the month. In the meantime, the mining mandate unofficially expired on Jan. 5, making enforcement of its more egregious provisions if not illegal then at least administratively more difficult.

That's great news and a key milestone in getting Cornerstone's projects back on track. Unfortunately, however, the new mining law has not passed as an organic law, that is, a high-level statute that has precedence over other laws. While it is not clear how the mining law will work in conjunction with other new laws governing such things as the environment, water and indigenous rights, the lack of organic status will likely mean a more complex operating environment for exploration and mining projects. The congress also introduced 11 minor revisions during the second debate, but these do not represent a material departure from earlier drafts.

Cornerstone is in regular contact with its partners in Ecuador, Newmont Ventures Ltd. and Coastport Capital Inc., to keep them abreast of the evolving situation. While the agreements with both companies remain under force majeure, all parties are anxious to get back to work on the exceptional precious metal opportunities represented by the Macara (Newmont) and Shyri (Coastport) properties.

Late last year, Newmont and Cornerstone received the results of the BLEG geochemical survey for Macara. BLEG (bulk leach extractable gold) is a regional sampling technique widely used by Newmont for discriminating gold-mineralized versus non-mineralized belts. Both companies were encouraged by the results that highlighted the gold potential of a large region within the area of interest.

Mr. McKenzie says: "We also continue to evaluate exploration opportunities in other jurisdictions. Cornerstone personnel have built up a wide network of contacts in various South American countries over the years, which enables us to keep an ear to the ground for low-entry-cost properties with unrecognized exploration potential."

Finally, the company would like to invite its investors to visit Cornerstone at booth B53 during the Cordilleran Roundup in Vancouver, Jan. 26 to 29.

We seek Safe Harbor.