and Expands Program to Include Drill Targets Adjacent to San Jose Mine

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OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 20, 2010) -
Aura Silver Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:AUU) ("Aura Silver" or the "Company") is pleased to report that after an extensive review of its geochemical and geophysical data, the next phase of drilling will commence at the Company's Taviche property in Oaxaca, Mexico on January 10, 2011. The Company will be targeting the Higo Blanco prospect with approximately 12 to 15 drill holes, some of which will focus on deeper structures: to discover the source of current high grade silver mineralization as well as to determine the extent to which gold grades increase with depth along the Mezcal vein. The drill program will extend from the Piedra del Sapo zone in the northwest to the Mezcal vein and Cerro La Mina zone to the southeast within the East Taviche concession.


In addition, given recent community approval, we will be targeting a number of highly prospective zones, in particular the La Noria prospect on the Company's property within the West Taviche concession which surrounds the San Jose mine, owned by Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (TSX:FVI) (>http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/aura_figure_2.pdf). The San Jose mine is currently under development and Fortuna has estimated an indicated resource of 37,596,000 ounces (150 g/t cutoff) at 435 g/t equivalent ounces of silver.


The La Noria prospect is permitted for drilling and garners strong support from the hosting community. It is comprised of two north-south trending veins, between 250 and 400 meters apart, connected by several northwest trending "en echelon" style extensional veins (see Figure 2). The West Noria vein has been mapped over a distance of about 600 meters and disappears below overburden both to the north and south. Samples from dumps contain up to 17.1 g/t gold and 751 g/t silver. Rock chip samples along strike of the main vein and adjacent "en echelon" veins gave values from 0.015 to 1.52 g/t gold and 1.4 to 100 g/t silver.


The East Noria vein has been traced for over 1 kilometer and dips steeply to the east; it is dominated by vein breccia and silicification up to 20 meters wide. In the southernmost 300 meters of the vein, rock chip samples contain up to 4 g/t gold and 210 g/t silver. The main veins widen where they are joined by the "en echelon" veins. Drilling in 2007 across the East Noria vein (3 holes totaling 722.4 meters) identified a significant mineralized and altered package that ranges in width from 15.5 meters in the northern hole (LN04-07) to 126 meters in the south (LN06-07). All intervals are defined by strong quartz-adularia-pyrite and quartz-illite-pyrite alteration with widespread intervals of moderate to strong, multistage quartz-sulphide-adularia veinlets as well as hydrothermal vein breccias up to 8 meters wide. The geologic environment seems to be that of a north-trending shear zone defined by multiple, steeply, east-dipping faults. Gold and locally, silver values are anomalous across all three zones and range up to 1.32 g/t gold and 77 g/t silver.


The style of mineralization observed in the East Noria drill holes is dominated by broad zones of multi-staged quartz-sulphide-adularia stockwork and, more locally, hydrothermal breccias. A similar style of broad, diffuse packages of quartz stockwork has been identified at the San Jose mine but contains discrete quartz-sulphide-(adularia)-carbonate veins up to several meters wide. Careful analysis of our data indicates that similar gold-silver vein deposits may be present along the La Noria vein system but possibly at greater depths than observed at the San Jose mine's Trinidad and Bonanza deposits. This may be the result of a normal fault between the two vein systems with the La Noria side being displaced downward.


In addition, Aura Silver speculates that the San Jose resource extends both north and south beyond Fortuna's concession boundaries and onto the Company's West Taviche concession. Figure 3 (



Update on Taviche Joint Venture Earn-in



Aura Silver is also pleased to report that it has made the second to last option payment of US$200,000 to Plata Panamericana SA de CV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pan American Silver Corp (TSX: PAA / NASDAQ:PAAS) as required by the Option Agreement ("Agreement") dated June 8, 2009. Required minimum exploration expenditures under the Agreement of US$4 million have been achieved with expenditures to date totaling approximately US$4.3 million. A final option payment of US$250,000, due on or before September 1, 2011, remains as the final financial obligation to complete the joint venture earn-in.


Company expenditures to date represent an approximate 42.3% total interest in the Taviche project. Ongoing expenditures for the Taviche project continue to be solely funded by Aura Silver and will increase the Company's interest in the Taviche project toward the completion of final earn-in.


Dr. James M. Franklin, P. Geo. is Aura Silver's qualified person (as defined by National Instrument 43-101) and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.



About Aura Silver




Aura Silver is a TSX Venture listed company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of precious metal prospects in Canada (100% owned Greyhound project) and in Oaxaca, Mexico. Aura Silver has 77,512,290 common shares outstanding.


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