December 22, 2008 - Vancouver, British Columbia. Appleton Exploration Inc. (TSX-V : AEX) has completed the Phase I explor ation program of mapping, sampling and trenching at the Julia copper manto project northeast of Copiapo, Chile. Appleton had entered into an option agreement to earn a 100% interest in the property, subject to a 2% net smelter return royalty. The agreement has been terminated.

The Julia property was being explored for copper mantos hosted within a 10 kilometre long agglomerate – lapilli tuff unit. Mineralization consists primarily of the copper oxide mineral chyrsocolla locally accompanied by chalcocite. The mapping and sampling has identified three areas of bedrock copper mineralization on the Julia property: the Mariel area, the Central area
and the South area. The Phase I mapping and sampling program covered 7 kilometers of the 10 kilometre trend.

In the Mariel area, a single manto has been traced almost continuously for a strike length of 1300 metres. The north end appears to end in very weakly disseminated copper mineralization while the southern end is open to the south. The manto width varies from less than 1 metre to approximately 3.0 metres but averages about 1.5 metres. Mineralized contacts are sharp. Locally, structures (faults or shears) are present that may have had some control on the localization of mineralization. Thirteen hand trenches spaced roughly 60 to 200 metres apart were established across the manto in the Mariel area. Results are presented in the table below. All samples reported in the table are composited bedrock chip samples. Individual chip samples reached a high of 4.171% Cu over 0.50 metres.

In the Central area, two sub-parallel mantos, have been traced semi-continuously for at least 900 metres. The mantos appear to lie at the top of agglomerate – lapilli tuff unit. The manto widths vary from less than 1 metre to 3 metres. Four hand trenches roughly 400 metres apart crossed the west (Central W) and east (Central E) mantos in the Central area. Results are reported in the table below. All samples reported in the table are composited bedrock chip samples. Individual chip samples reached as high as 1.395% Cu across 1 metre.

The mapping and sampling program was implemented and supervised by Steve Butrenchuk, P. Geol. with the assistance of Ed Balon, P.Geo. Both Mr. Butrenchuk and Mr. Balon are Qualified Persons as defined in National Instrument 43-101. QA/QC protocols of standards and blanks were incorporated in the sampling program. Assaying was completed by Acme Analytical Laboratories S.A. in Santiago, Chile.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,
“R. Tim Henneberry”
R.Tim Henneberry, P.Geo.
President and CEO

For further information, please contact:
Tim Henneberry: (604) 694-0741

For Investor Relations Information contact:
Contact Financial Corp.
604.689.7422 | Toll Free 1.877.689.7411

R. Tim Henneberry, P.Geo. , President, CEO & Director of the Company, is the Qualified Person as defined in
National Instrument 43-101, who has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.