LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 09/17/2006 -- African Copper (TSX: ACU)(BSE:African Copper)(AIM: ACU) announces that its Board of Directors has approved the commencement of construction activities at the Dukwe Project in Botswana. An application to convert the existing Retention Licence covering the Dukwe project to a Mining Licence has been filed with the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Affairs in Gaborone. The Mining Licence is expected to be issued shortly. Production is expected to commence in the first part of 2008 subject to receiving this Mining License.

The Company has received a Water Extraction Permit to draw process water from its bore field about 15 kilometers north of the Dukwe deposit. This Water Extraction Permit provides sufficient quantities of water to support all planned plant and mining operations. In addition, surface rights have been granted subject to the issuance of the Mining License. Conditional archeological discharges have been provided by the National Museum. Final comments have been received from the Department of Environmental Affairs regarding the Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA") and the Environmental Management Plan ("EMP"). The Company has addressed these comments and approval of the EIA and EMP is expected in conjunction with the granting of the Mining License.

The flotation concentrator at Dukwe has been designed for a 3000 tonne per day throughput producing approximately 44 million pounds of copper in concentrate at full production. It is planned that initial production will be sourced from the near surface supergene material that can produce a clean and marketable quality concentrate. Locked cycle tests indicated excellent recoveries of 86% using a two-stage sequential flotation (see Press Release dated 21 February 2006). Pilot plant tests are underway and should be completed by the end of September.

Preliminary metallurgical tests on the oxide material are being reviewed by the Company and further oxide flotation optimization tests are underway. These results are sufficiently encouraging that the Company is re-examining the oxide resource as potential mill feed. Previous studies had left oxide material in-situ as a crown pillar to the proposed underground mine.

As a result, African Copper has retained RSG Global Consulting ("RSG") to complete a resource estimate for the consolidated Dukwe mineralization. Previous resource estimates examined either the oxide and supergene mineralization or the sulphides, but not both. RSG supervised a comprehensive diamond drill programme at Dukwe over the past 15 months which included a twin hole drill programme to validate historical data and a 38,000 metre diamond drill programme. Results of the RSG estimate are expected shortly.

The coarse grained semi-massive to disseminated nature of the sulphide mineralization at Dukwe has the potential to lead to estimation errors. For this reason, the Company has commissioned Caracle Creek International Consulting (CCIC) to prepare a parallel resource estimate utilizing the same database. The use of two globally recognized independent consultants should allow the Company to finalize the resource base that is available to support an extended mine life at Dukwe.

African Copper is a tri-listed (AIM, TSX, Botswana Stock Exchange) international exploration and development company. The Company intends to develop its' first copper mine at Dukwe and commence production in the first part of 2008. The Company's other interests are the 4,000 sq km Matsitama exploration concession adjacent to Dukwe, which contains two known copper deposits and numerous base metal exploration targets. Additional information with respect to the Dukwe and Matsitama properties is contained in the technical report of A.C.A Howe International Limited dated March 30, 2006 and entitled "Technical Report on the Dukwe Copper Project and Matsitama Prospecting Licences, Botswana Africa". African Copper has approximately 128 million shares outstanding.

Mr. Joseph Hamilton, P.Geo., and Chief Operating Officer of African Copper, is a "qualified person" as defined in Canada by National Instrument 43-101. This press release has been prepared under Mr. Hamilton's supervision. Mr. Hamilton has verified the data disclosed in this press release including the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information.

This document contains or refers to forward-looking information, including estimates of future production, exploration and mine development plans and timing of commencement of operations, and is based on current expectations that involve a number of business risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement include, but are not limited to, the grade and recovery of ore which is mined varying from estimates, capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, political risks arising from operating in Africa, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects and other factors. Forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and we assume no responsibility to update them or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, other than as required by law.