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Exhibit 5

CERTIFICATION

I, Gil Clausen, certify that:

1.          I have
reviewed this annual report on Form 40-F of Augusta Resource Corporation;

2.          Based
on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material
fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in
light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading
with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.          Based
on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information
included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial
condition, results of operations and cash flows of the issuer as of, and for,
the periods presented in this report;

4.          The
issuers other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and
maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal controls over financial reporting (as
defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-5(f) for the issuer and
have:

(a)          Designed such
disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and
procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material
information relating to the issuer, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is
made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period
in which this report is being prepared;

(b)          Designed such internal
control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial
reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance
regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of
financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted
accounting principles;

(c)          Evaluated the
effectiveness of the issuers disclosure controls and procedures and presented
in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report
based on such evaluation; and

(d)          Disclosed in this
report any change in the issuers internal control over financial reporting that
occurred during the period covered by the annual report that has materially
affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the issuers internal
control over financial reporting; and

5.          The
issuers other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most
recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the issuers
auditors and the audit committee of the issuers board of directors (or persons
performing the equivalent functions):

(a)          All significant
deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal
control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect
the issuers ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
information; and

(b)          Any fraud, whether or
not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant
role in the issuers internal control over financial reporting.

|Date: March 25, 2009 | By: | /s/ Gil Clausen                                   
|-------------------- | --- | --------------------------------------------------
|                     |     |                                                   
|                     |     | Name: Gil Clausen                                 
|                     |     | Title: President and Chief
      Executive Officer

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