Augusta Provides New DEIS Timeline for Rosemont Copper Project 

VANCOUVER, BC - Augusta Resource Corporation reported that its wholly owned subsidiary, Rosemont Copper Company, has signed an amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding with the Coronado National Forest which anticipates the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Rosemont Copper project will be released and public comment will commence in the fourth quarter of 2010. Public hearings are anticipated to occur in the first quarter of 2011.

This follows an April 30, 2010 statement from the Coronado National Forest that the DEIS would be delayed in order to complete an additional plant study and additional groundwater modeling of development plan alternatives. This adjustment to the DEIS schedule is necessary to allow the Forest Interdisciplinary Team and its third party contractors to produce a complete and comprehensive evaluation. About Augusta Augusta is a base metals company focused on advancing the Rosemont copper deposit near Tucson, Arizona. Rosemont hosts a large copper/molybdenum reserve that may account for about 10% of US copper output once in production in 2012. The company's address is #400 - 837 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C 3N6, 604.687.1717, fax: 604.687.1715, email: [email protected].