Great Panther commissioning Guanajuato plant (March 28, 2006)

Vancouver – Great Panther Resources (GPR-V, GPRLF-O) has started to commission the processing plant at its Guanajuato silver-gold mine complex in central-Mexico.

Following three-months of refurbishment, the 1,200-tonne-per-day plant is being put through its paces with testing of the crushing, milling and flotation circuits as the company plans to bring the facility up to full capacity. The process is expected to run about 4 weeks.

The plant, under previous operators, had been run at a much reduced capacity since the early-1990s due to limited operating capital. Throughput had dropped to about 20% of capacity, or about 250-tonnes-per-day. Great Panther will bring the three ball mills on-stream one at a time, with all operating by year-end 2006 at full capacity.

Metallurgical testing will also review the optimal recovery process for the operation, while also examining the possibility of producing a silver-gold dor onsite.

The Guanajuato complex consists of the processing plant plus the Valenciana, Cata and Rayas mines situated on the central portion of the 25-km long Veta Madre structure, first discovered in the mid-1500s. The district has historic production estimated at over one billion oz. of silver and 5 million oz. of gold.

Initial surface drilling by Great Panther, conducted in late-2005, intersected high-grade silver and gold in the Veta Madre vein, confirming past results. A second phase program is now underway.

The company acquired the Guanajuato project in late-2005 for a total purchase price of US$7.25 million, in staged payments through to the end of 2006, to Sociedad Cooperativa Minero Metalrgica Santa Fe de Guanajuato, Mexico’s last mining cooperative. The cooperative operated the mine for the last 65 years.

Near the end of 2005, Great Panther also commenced production from its Topia silver-lead-zinc mine in Durango State.

Shares of the company rose about 8% on the Guanajuato plant commissioning news, closing at $1.70 per share on volume of over 900,000. Great Panther posts a market capitalization $83 million based on its 49.1 million shares outstanding.