GREAT WESTERN MINERALS GROUP LTD.

NEWS RELEASE
HOIDAS LAKE WINTER PROGRAM UPDATE

Saskatoon, SK, Wednesday, March 20, 2007 - Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. (TSX:V - GWG): The Company is pleased to provide the following update on the 2006/2007 winter exploration and development program on the Hoidas Lake rare earth project in northern Saskatchewan.

Drilling is now complete on 14 NQ-size (1.875 inch/47.6 mm diameter) core holes drilled into the JAK Zone.  This program was designed to recover a bulk sample of unweathered, representative JAK Zone vein material for pilot plant work.  A total of 1,434 m of vein material was recovered and approximately 4.3 tonnes was moved off-site to a storage facility for future processing.

Golder Associates, environmental managers for the project, have completed 10 geotechnical core holes on the JAK Zone.  Five of these holes were drilled across the hanging wall and footwall contacts of the JAK Zone.  The core from these holes will be used to evaluate the rock mechanics of the ore zone, and of footwall and hanging wall waste rock.

Five geotechnical holes were drilled into the footwall rock in the vicinity of planned decline underground access to the JAK Zone.  Two holes were drilled perpendicular to the strike of the JAK Zone, and three holes were drilled parallel to the strike.  This core will be used to evaluate rock mechanics in the area of the proposed decline, including an analysis of joint and fracture planes in three dimensions.

Six geotechnical core drill holes still remain to be drilled adjacent to the proposed tailings impoundment area and tailings dam.  These drill holes will require helicopter support and should be complete in early April.

In preparation for significantly increased project activity in winter 2007/2008, the Company is working with the members and elders of the Fond du Lac Dene First Nations in selecting winter road, and potentially permanent road, access into the Hoidas Lake camp from the community of Fond du Lac.  Mapping of routes will be coordinated with the availability of the helicopter being used at Hoidas Lake for the geotechnical work.

Environmental baseline work on terrestrial animals was also completed by Golder this field season.

"While this type of work may not seem exciting to some", says Jim Engdahl, President, " it plays a major role in keeping the project on-track towards production and achieving our goal of being the only North American, vertically-integrated, mine-to-market supplier of rare earth products, in as short a time frame as possible."

As frustrating as it is, that time frame has become dependent on outside forces such as availability of laboratory time and space; availability of skilled professionals; and turnover of geological, engineering and metallurgical personnel at the consulting firms.  Despite these challenges, which are faced by the entire mining industry, Wardrop Engineering is making steady progress on the Preliminary Economic Study for Hoidas Lake.  While it has become difficult to speculate on a specific delivery date, management is confident it is forthcoming.  Once the report is in hand, the next phase of work will be pilot plant testing of the bulk sample material.
Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. is a Saskatchewan-based mineral exploration and development company with interests in advanced stage mineral properties hosting rare earth elements, copper, gold and diamonds (through its subsidiary Great Western Diamonds Corp., TSX-V:GWD). The Company is developing the Hoid! as Lake rare earth project and is already implementing its mine-to-market business model through the operations of its US Subsidiary, Great Western Technologies Inc., currently in production and serving clients in the automotive, magnetic and aerospace industries.

Jim Engdahl, President

For further information contact Gordon Dent at (306) 668-0701. All email inquiries should be made to info@gwmg.ca (website: http://www.gwmg.ca) Direct mail: Great Western Minerals Group Ltd., 226 Cardinal Crescent, Saskatoon, SK S7L 6H8

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