NEVADA COPPER COMPLETES PURCHASE OF 17.8% OF MER

NEVADA COPPER COMPLETES PURCHASE OF 17.8% OF MERCATOR MINERALS

October 9, 2012 - Nevada Copper Corp. (TSX: NCU) (“Nevada Copper” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has completed the purchase (the “Purchase”) of 46,000,000 common shares (the “Mercator Shares”) of Mercator Minerals Ltd. (“Mercator”), representing approximately 17.8% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Mercator, from Pala Investments Limited (“Pala Investments”) in consideration for the issuance of 7,315,000 common shares of the Company issued at a deemed price of $3.37 per share.  The Purchase was completed by way of a private transaction pursuant to a share purchase agreement between the Company and Pala Investments dated October 4, 2012, as announced on October 5, 2012.

Immediately following the above-mentioned transaction, the Company owned 46,000,000 common shares of Mercator, representing approximately 17.8% of the issued and outstanding share capital of Mercator.  The percentage ownership disclosed does not reflect the issuance of additional Mercator common shares pursuant to a private placement financing announced on October 1, 2012.  Nevada Copper purchased the Mercator Shares for investment purposes.  Depending upon market conditions and other factors that Nevada Copper may deem material to its investment decisions, additional shares may be purchased in the open market or in private transactions.  Depending on these same factors, the shares currently owned by Nevada Copper may be sold in the open market or in private transactions.

The Company’s head office address is Suite 1238-200 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC  V6C 1S4.  A copy of the related early warning report may be obtained from the SEDAR website ( www.sedar.com ) or by contacting Catherine Tanaka, Corporate Secretary of the Company at  604 688-7511 .

For additional information about Nevada Copper please visit our website at www.nevadacopper.com .

NEVADA COPPER CORP.

Giulio T. Bonifacio, President & CEO