Nord Resources Corporation, which is producing copper at its Johnson Camp Mine in Arizona, announced that it has received notification from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality that it has granted a significant amendment to the Aquifer Protection Permit previously provided to the company.

Receipt of the Permit is subject to fulfilling certain standard conditions, in particular that Nord makes payments to the ADEQ of all fees for the application review and that the company submits an updated Financial Assurance Mechanism for an additional USD 575,000. The company plans to finance this as part of the funding to build the new leaching pad.

Mr Wayne Morrison CEO and CFO said that "This is an important step forward for Nord. With the ADEQ's decision in hand, we can now move forward with the construction of the new leaching pad, subject to the completion of financing and the satisfaction of the permitting conditions."

Mr Morrison said that "Moving ahead with the construction of the new leaching pad will also enable us to resume the mining of new ore in 2012 at the Johnson Camp Mine. In the meantime, we are continuing our leaching and production of copper from the materials previously placed on our existing pads.”

As previously announced, construction of a new pad, which will be approximately twice the size of any of the three existing pads, will require an estimated capital investment of approximately USD 18 million.

Mr. Morrison said that "With respect to a financing transaction, we are continuing active discussions with various parties. While we believe that we will be successful in obtaining the capital required, the timing and outcome of our efforts cannot be guaranteed.”