GREAT WESTERN MINERALS GROUP CONTINUES WORK AT BENJAMIN RIVER
October 29, 2009 ? Saskatoon, Saskatchewan ? Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. ("GWMG" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the next phase of exploration work is now in progress at its Benjamin River rare earth project in New Brunswick, Canada.
Fugro Airborne Surveys Corp. completed a 1712 line-km helicopter-borne magnetic and radiometric survey over the project area. The goal of the survey is to further delineate and extend the zone of known rare earth mineralization and identify new areas of potential rare earth mineralization. The data is now being compiled and interpreted. A stream-sediment sampling program over the property has also been initiated.
As announced in a news release of June 1, 2009, the Company completed ground geophysics over the known exposures of a rare earth-bearing apatite-diopside-magnetite vein system. This survey outlined a geophysical anomaly approximately 1,200m long with widths up to 200m. Previous trenches within the anomaly have been cleaned out with a backhoe and geological mapping and sampling of the trenches is underway.
Based on the ground work completed to date, initial drill hole locations have been selected, and Major Drilling has been awarded the contract to complete a minimum of 2000m of core drilling before year end. The scope of the drill program may be significantly expanded once the results of the airborne geophysics and stream-sediment geochemistry have been analyzed.
The budget for the current program is estimated at approximately $750,000. Funding of these programs is also being provided by the New Brunswick Junior Mining Assistance Program.
Previous sampling of the Benjamin River mineralization yielded significant rare earth values (0.6% total rare earth oxide to 1.0% total rare earth oxide) with ?heavy? rare earth oxides (yttrium plus europium through lutetium) representing 30% of the total rare earth content. Significant values of phosphate and iron were also noted.
GWMG can earn a 100% interest in the Benjamin River property by making a series of cash payments, issuing common shares, and granting a net smelter return royalty to the vendor as reported in the Company?s news release of January 8, 2009.
Jim Engdahl, President and CEO notes, ?With our balance sheet in order and the Company debt-free, we can now focus our attention on aggressively moving our rare earth projects forward as we strive to complete our mine-to-market business model. We expect a steady stream of news in the coming months as we advance several of our mineral projects and work on expanding the value-added capability at our UK and US manufacturing plants.?
John Pearson, MSc, PGeo, Vice-President Exploration for GWMG, is the qualified person responsible for reviewing the contents of this news release.
About Great Western Minerals Group Ltd.
Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. is a Canadian-based company with six rare earth exploration and development properties in North America with an option on a sizable additional property in South Africa. In addition, as part of the Company?s strategy to pursue a vertically-integrated business model, the Company's wholly-owned subsidiaries of Less Common Metals Limited located in Birkenhead UK, and Great Western Technologies Inc., located in Troy, Michigan, produce a variety of specialty alloys for use in the battery, magnet and aerospace industries. These "designer" alloys include those containing aluminum, copper, nickel, cobalt and the rare earth elements.
For further information, please contact Ron Malashewski, Manager of Investor Relations at (306) 659-4516. Email inquiries should be made to info@gwmg.ca and the company website is located at www.gwmg.ca. Inquiries by direct mail should be addressed to Great Western Minerals Group Ltd., 226 Cardinal Crescent, Saskatoon, SK S7L 6H8.
Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information: Certain information set out in this News Release constitutes forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements (often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "expect", "may", "could", "anticipate" or "will" and similar expressions) are based upon the opinions, expectations and estimates of management of the Company as at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or outcomes to differ materially from those anticipated or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon forward-looking information. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements set out in this press release or incorporated herein by reference are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct.
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