VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - 12/16/09) - Silvermex Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:SMR - News) (the "Company" or "Silvermex") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Arthur Brown as the new Chairman of the Board ("Executive Chairman"), and Director of Silvermex Resources Ltd. This appointment will become effective January 1, 2010 and has been made as an on going effort to add experienced leadership, production experience, depth and diversification to Silvermex's management team.

Arthur Brown, retired in 2006 as Chairman of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL - News), headquartered in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. During his 39 year tenure at Hecla, he held several senior operating positions within the Company, he became President of Hecla in 1986 and was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 1987. He graduated from Witwatersrand Technical College, South Africa, as a mining engineer in 1961. Following his graduation, he worked at Cementation Co. in Canada until 1967, when he began his career with Hecla Mining Company as an industrial engineer. Mr. Brown serves as a director on the boards of AMCOL International Corporation (NYSE:ACO - News) and Idaho Independent Bank. He is a former Director of the National Mining Association and served as a Director of The Gold Institute and The Silver Institute (Past President). He is past president of the Idaho Mining Association. He is also a Trustee for the University of Montana Foundation (Past Chairman). He is a member of the audit and compensation committees of Amcol International.

The Board of Directors of Silvermex welcomes Mr. Brown to the Silvermex team and to the position of Executive Chairman. Duane Nelson comments, "I am honored that Mr. Brown has agreed to become the Executive Chairman and a Director of Silvermex. Under his leadership, Hecla grew to one of the world's largest and most successful silver mining companies. His unparalleled industry knowledge and extensive experience will provide strong guidance on all levels of Silvermex's growth. He will add tremendous value to our company through his vast experience within all aspects of the precious metals industry and his extensive relationships in the global mining and financial communities."

Mr. Brown comments: "After reviewing the technical data and visiting Silvermex's core projects, I am quite confident that Silvermex has a real opportunity to become a significant mining company in relatively short time. The existing resources are high grade and near surface, in very wide structures, and these are generally amenable to development with a low amount of capital cost. The projects offer tremendous opportunity for resource growth. I am excited to join Silvermex and help to guide this dynamic team which is committed to delivering shareholder value through a strategy of production at its projects and growth thru exploration on its significant land position. The ability for a young exploration company to attract such a talented Board of Directors, speaks highly of the company's projects, management and future prospects."

Mr. Brown will become fully active with Silvermex on January 1, 2010. The Board of Directors of Silvermex intends to grant Mr. Brown a signing bonus, subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals, of an aggregate of 500,000 common shares (the "Common Shares") as a retention and incentive bonus. The Common Shares will be issued in increments over a one-year period from the date of receiving all necessary approvals and will be subject to certain conditions. The Company will also issue 250,000 common share purchase options ("Stock Options") pursuant to Silvermex's incentive stock option plan (the "Plan"). Each Stock Option can be exercised into common shares of the Company at an exercise price of $0.34 per share. The term of the Stock Options granted under the Plan will be five years. The grant of Shares and Stock Options are subject to receipt of all required regulatory approvals including the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Company also announces that Bruce Bragagnolo will be retiring as Chief Executive Officer to focus his efforts as CEO of Timmins Gold Corp. Mr. Bragagnolo is one of the founders of Silvermex and has been with the company since May, 2005. The Board of Directors would like to thank Mr. Bragagnolo for his many contributions to Silvermex. Mr. Bragagnolo will continue to serve the company as a Director and Advisor. The Board is pleased to announce that Duane Nelson has accepted the position of Chief Executive Officer.

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 our 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.

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