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INDUSTRY NEWS

December 12, 2005

Cooper Minerals to JV with Agricola on Finnish property

Mr. Craig Walker reports

Joint Venture with Agricola Resources plc
Paukkajanvaara Uranium Deposit, Eastern Finland

Cooper Minerals Inc. ("Cooper") is pleased to announce that it has signed a letter of intent to enter into a joint venture with Agricola Resources plc ("Agricola"), a company listed on the OFEX in the United Kingdom. Cooper will sign an option agreement with Agricola for the acquisition of an undivided 50% interest in certain reconnaissance licences granted to and beneficially owned by Agricola and located in Paukkajanvaara, Kauhee claim area, Joensuu District, Eastern Finland (including, without limitation, all prospecting, research, exploration, operating and mining permits, licences and leases associated therewith) (collectively "the Property"). The agreement provides that Cooper can earn a 50% interest in the Property upon fulfillment of the following conditions:

  1. incur a total sum of Canadian $500,000 of work expenditures on the Property in two stages:

    1. a minimum of Canadian $50,000 on or before the ending of six months upon signing of the option agreement;


    2. the balance of the sum of Canadian $500,000 on or before the ending of two years upon signing of the option agreement;

  2. subscribe for 1,650,000 ordinary shares of £0.01 each in the capital of Agricola ("Ordinary Shares") at a subscription price of £0.03 per Ordinary Share, and simultaneously with the allotment of such ordinary shares Agricola shall issue to Cooper warrants to subscribe for 1,650,000 additional ordinary shares at a subscription price of £0.03 per share for a period of 1 year from the date of issue;
     
  3. contribute in equal shares with Agricola to the costs of converting such of the Property as they shall agree to full exploration licences in May 2006 (such costs being estimated to be €100,000 in aggregate).

The Property area is located in the Joensuu magistrate in Eastern Finland. Joensuu is a major town with a population of some 65,000 inhabitants and is located 400 kms northeast of Helsinki. The mining town of Outokumpu is some 50 kms to the west. Agricola acquired the property in May 2005. The project area is made up of ten claim reservations totalling 90 square kilometres, these are currently held by Agricola Resources plc. These claims include the only previously operated uranium mine in Finland, called Paukkajanvaara. Test mining in 1960 and 1961 by the Finnish company Atomienergia Oy at Paukkajanvaara produced some 30 tonnes of yellowcake (U3O8) from 30,700 tonnes of ore assaying 0.12% U3O8. The project area is well served with high quality tarred roads, it is sparsely populated and is in general characterised by flat lying forested areas. A railway line is located some 5 kms from the property.

The mineralisation at Paukkajanvaara shows similarities to the well-known "unconformity-type" uranium deposit. Approximately 53 boreholes have been drilled in the immediate vicinity of the Paukkajanvaara Uranium deposit. It is Cooper's intention to gain access to these cores. It is understood that they are currently held in storage at the Geological Survey of Finland's ("GSF") core storage facility.

Uraniferous boulders are found throughout the area but are especially prevalent down ice from the Paukkajanvaara uranium deposit. During a recent radon survey Agricola identified six radioactive boulders, these boulders contained abundant yellowish uranophane and pitchblende. Samples of these boulders were sent to Chemex in Vancouver for analysis. Results received from Chemex indicate (Agricola Press Release dated: 18th July 2005) that the uranium content of the boulders are as follows, 0.170, 0.303, 0.471, 0.711, 0.745 and 1.170 % U3O8.

Agricola has just completed a radon survey utilizing "Track Etch" type detectors in the area. The results from this radon survey were reported in tracks per square millimetre. A total of 97 detectors were placed along selected grid lines at 25-50 meter intervals covering prospective ground surrounding the mine area, up to two kilometres from the mine site. Reference radon detectors were also placed at the mine site. The results from this preliminary work were very encouraging in that four new areas of potential interest were identified. Three of these areas indicate new target zones for potential uranium mineralisation and the fourth indicates a possible southern extension of the uranium bearing horizons of the Paukkajanvaara uranium deposit. The actual mine site gave very high tracks per square millimetre (for details see, Agricola Press Release dated: 4th July 2005).

The entire area has been flown with radiometrics (total count, potassium, uranium and thorium) and aeromagnetics. This work was carried out by the Geological Survey of Finland ("GSF"). A line spacing of 400 meters was used. Many of the uranium occurrences in the Paukkajanvaara area appear to be associated with aeromagnetic anomalies. Digital data for the entire area will be purchased from the GSF.

Other companies active in the area include Cogema (a major French uranium exploration company) who has just been granted an exploration licence adjacent to the Paukkajanvaara property. Cogema (through Areva) is currently constructing Finland's fifth nuclear generating plant.

Initially, Cooper intends to carry out a complete literature search through the GSF archives and to examine and assay any core samples from the Paukkajanvaara uranium deposit that are currently stored with the GSF. Following this a further radon survey will be carried out. Once this has been completed a drilling program designed to identify new targets and mine extensions will commence.

These transactions are subject to regulatory approval. The maximum allowable finder's fee shall be payable as per the TSX Venture Exchange's policy guidelines.

Cooper Minerals Inc.

Craig Walker
Director

The TSX Venture Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

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