-- Posted 22 May, 2009 | |

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - May 22, 2009) - Silvermex Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:SMR - News; the "Company" or "Silvermex") is pleased to announce it has entered into an agreement with Aurcana Corporation (TSX VENTURE:AUN - News; "Aurcana") to acquire a 100% interest in the silver -- gold -- lead -- zinc Rosario Property ("Rosario Property") located in south eastern Sinaloa State, Mexico. The Rosario Property consists of 18 concessions totaling approximately 8,515 hectares and is located approximately 94 kilometres southeast of Mazatlan. The property is strategically located within 2 kilometres of Silvermex's 1,250 hectare San Marcial Silver property.

The Rosario Property was acquired in order to consolidate Silvermex's land position in the San Marcial area and will help to accelerate Silvermex's objective of becoming a near-term silver producer. The proximity to Silvermex's San Marcial project combined with the silver resource and existing infrastructure at Rosario will significantly reduce both time and capital expenditures required for production.

The acquisition will include all facilities and infrastructure, including surface rights, underground workings, tailings dam, water, power, offices, shops, 60 man camp, warehouses and assay lab. The previous operator completed partial renovations to the mine and mill site including; upgrading of electrical substations and wiring, camp accommodations upgrades, mine dewatering and detailed engineering of an 800 tonne per day (t/d) mill. The acquisition also includes an extensive list of mill equipment and vehicles, including; a 1,200 t/d SAG ("Semi-Autogenous Grinding") mill, two 9 by 12 ball mills, numerous feeders and tanks, electrical equipment, loader/backhoe, trucks, pumps, compressors, etc.

The land directly surrounding the Rosario mill site (330 ha) is owned in fee simple and key exploration and mining areas are under a current surface rights agreement which remains in good standing for 20 years. Silvermex is working on a preliminary in-house study which will determine mine and production plans based on combining the two projects.

Historic production on the Rosario property by Grupo Mexico, the prior operator, averaged 600 t/d from 1986 to 2000. During this production period a total of 2.5 million tonnes of ore were produced which averaged 190.5 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 0.92 g/t gold, 2.02% zinc and 2.38% lead.

The two main areas of interest on the Rosario Project are the San Juan Prospect and the Plomosas Mine.

The San Juan prospect is a high priority target on the project. This vein structure has 26,205 tonnes of historic reserves with grades of 339.9 grams per tonne silver, 2.1% zinc, 1.4% lead and 0.4 grams per tonne gold and 230,511 tonnes of historic inferred resources with grades of 327.8 grams per tonne silver, 3.90% zinc, 1.70% lead and 0.2 grams per tonne gold. Developed workings consist of several hundred metres of drifts and cross cuts on two levels.

Previous owners Grupo Mexico reported the following historic reserves.

San Juan Historic Reserves and Resources, 2000

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                         Grade                   Contained Metal
                 ------------------- --------------------------------------
                    Ag   Au   Pb  Zn        Ag     Au         Pb         Zn
Category  Tonnes  (g/t)(g/t)  (%) (%)      (oz)   (oz)       (lb)       (lb)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proven    12,325 333.5  0.3  1.4 2.1   132,150    119    362,355    543,533
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Probable  13,880 345.5  0.4  1.3 2.1   154,178    178    378,924    612,108
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Total     26,205 339.9  0.4  1.4 2.1   286,327    297    741,279  1,155,641
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Inferred 230,511 327.8  0.2  1.7 3.9 2,429,318  1,482  8,229,243 18,878,851
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Two adits provide access to the San Juan prospect. A decline has been driven into the San Juan Vein and has tested the vein structure over a vertical distance of 40 metres. Historic drill intersections suggest that the zone remains open at depth.

Exploration work planned for the San Juan vein area will include exploring the known zone at San Juan to depth. Diamond drill testing will also evaluate the San Francisco vein which is interpreted to be an extension of the San Juan vein. Surface sampling by Grupo Mexico traced the vein along strike for 600 metres, and has reported results including 3.02 g/t gold and 314 g/t silver over 1.6 metres, and 0.34 g/t gold and 574 g/t silver over 1.7 metres.

The Plomosas Mine has been partially refurbished by the previous operator in preparation for an 800 tpd operation. The Plomosas Mine currently has 323,278 tonnes of historic reserves with grades of 92.0 grams per tonne silver, 3.7% zinc, 2.5% lead and 1.0 gram per tonne gold and 286,613 tonnes of historic inferred resources with grades of 161.3 grams per tonne silver, 3.21% zinc, 2.23% lead and 1.2 grams per tonne gold.

Plomosas Mine Historic Reserves and Resources, 2000

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                         Grade                   Contained Metal
                 ------------------- --------------------------------------
                          Ag   Au   Pb     Zn        Ag       Au         Pb         Zn
Category  Tonnes  (g/t)(g/t) (%)   (%)     (oz)      (oz)       (lb)       (lb)
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Proven    37,624 123.6  1.0  2.6 3.9   149,509  1,210  2,054,270  3,081,406
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Probable 285,654  87.8  1.0  2.4 3.4   806,341  9,184 14,396,962 20,395,696
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Total    323,278  92.0  1.0  2.5 3.7   955,850 10,393 16,451,232 23,477,101
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Inferred 286,613 161.3  1.2  2.2 3.2 1,486,326  1,058 13,241,521 19,260,394
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The historic reserves are located in a number of mineral zones which include the Veta Plomosas, Plomositas, Lead-Zinc Stock Work, and Silver Stock Work. Silvermex will focus on the potential that remains within these zones and intends to expand the resource from areas remaining between old mine levels along strike and below the lowest level exploited. The stock work zones are thought to have potential for significant tonnage expansion along the strike and dip of the Plomosas fault structure.

The reader should be cautioned the historic reserves and resources do not conform to National Instrument 43-101 requirements for reporting purposes; as such the Company is not treating these historic estimates as current reserves or resources. These estimates should not be relied upon until they have been verified by further due diligence and by the Company's "Qualified Person".

In addition to the Plomosas Mine and the San Juan prospect, there are a number of exploration targets outlined by geology, geochemistry and geophysics which are drill ready. In particular, Grupo Mexico had proposed a significant amount of work including diamond drilling in the La Chorreras, and La Rastra areas. Silvermex is encouraged by the exploration potential that has been identified by Grupo Mexico and Aurcana on the Rosario Project.

The information included with the Rosario Project provides a wealth of historic exploration data (geology, geochemistry, geophysics, drilling, and Landsat studies). The value of this asset cannot be understated, as the accumulation of a data base of this extent today would be prohibitive at current market prices. Previous operators have compiled this information into a comprehensive database to support and optimize the systematic geological and geochemical surveys to be carried out for further exploration of the various untested targets identified on the property. The Company has outlined a development drill program at Rosario to better define the existing historic resources and upgrade the resource category to NI 43-101 standards.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Silvermex will pay Aurcana $125,000 CDN and issue 1 million shares upon signing. Silvermex will pay an additional $125,000 CDN within 90 days of signing. Upon successful production or within 24 months, Silvermex will issue an additional 1 million shares and pay to Aurcana $3,000,000 CDN in 6 installments of $500,000 every 6 months over 36 months. Silvermex will also assume the balance of payments due to Grupo Mexico in the amounts of $350,000 USD due in July 2009 and $650,000 USD due in January, 2010. There is an NSR payable to Grupo Mexico exclusively on ore mined from the Rosario mine(s) based on a zinc price matrix ranging from 1.75% when the price of zinc is below USD$1.00 per pound to a maximum of 3.5% when the price of zinc is higher than USD$1.50 per pound. The agreement is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval, the assignment of the underlying option agreement to Silvermex and satisfactory due diligence by Silvermex.

Bruce Bragagnolo, Silvermex CEO, states; "The strategic acquisition of Rosario will help to accelerate Silvermex's objective of becoming a near-term silver producer. The proximity to our San Marcial project combined with the resource and infrastructure in place at Rosario will significantly reduce both time and capital expenditures required for production. The acquisition complements our short term goals and our pre-production profile."

Preliminary resource modeling has determined that the San Marcial project currently hosts a near-surface, potentially bulk-mineable, high-grade NI 43-101 resource of 1.399 million tonnes grading 359 g/t containing 16.149 million ounces of silver. The existing resource is open at depth and along strike and has been traced on surface for 1.6 kms. San Marcial has the potential to host further silver deposits and has still undefined potential to host a gold deposit which is associated with stockwork zones and narrow veins.

The Company also reports that the news release dated March 23rd, 2009 inadvertently stated that the option agreement with Silver Standard was dated for settlement on February 1st, 2011. This should read February 1st, 2012.

Readers are cautioned that there are no assurances that all or any part of the Resource Estimate will be economically viable and although the information in this press release is based on the best available data the Company has collected to date, a material difference between the actual results and the Company's expectations may arise once further exploration is completed.

Qualified Person

Pursuant to National Instrument 43-101, Mr. William Lewis, B.Sc., P.Geo. (Micon International Limited) is the independent Qualified Person responsible for the mineral resource estimate.

Bruce Bried, B.Sc., P.Eng. and Senior Mining Consultant will oversee the evaluation and economic assessments of the San Marcial and Rosario projects. Mr. Bried is a professional engineer with over 25 years experience in engineering and operating mines, his specialty is underground vein gold and silver mines.

Both Mr. William Lewis and Mr. Bruce Bried have read and approved this news release.

This News Release contains forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements which relate to future events. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "should", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "predicts", "potential", or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

While these forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect out current judgment regarding the direction of our business, actual results will almost always vary, sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions or other future performance suggests herein. Except as required by applicable law the Company does not intend to update any forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contact:
Duane Nelson
Silvermex Resources Ltd.
604-638-8978
duane@silvermexresources.com

Bruce Bragagnolo
Silvermex Resources Ltd.
604-682-4004
604-682-4009 (FAX)
bruce@silvermexresources.com
www.silvermexresources.com