GREAT WESTERN MINERALS GROUP ENGAGES BARR ENGINEERING TO UPDATE HOIDAS LAKE TECHNICAL REPORT

October 22, 2009 - Saskatoon , Saskatchewan – Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. (“GWMG” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce it has engaged Barr Engineering Company (“Barr”) of Minneapolis Minnesota to update the 43-101 Technical Report for the Company’s Hoidas Lake Project.

Barr is an employee-owned engineering and environmental consulting company involved with the development, management, and restoration of natural resources. With more than 40 years of experience Barr has been involved in solving a wide range of challenges faced by the mining and mineral processing industry, primarily in North and South America .

Under the scope of this contract, Barr will update the resource estimate for the Company’s Hoidas Lake project, incorporating the results of the Company’s drilling program which was completed in the spring of 2008 on the JAK Zone.

A total of 6,836 m was drilled in 32 holes to depths of 300 metres. The JAK Zone Vein System has been extended by 250 m to 1,000 metres and remains open along strike and at depth. The drilling also extended the zone to a depth of 300 m; previously, this zone had been tested only to a depth of 150 m. Preliminary indications are that the extensions of the previously drilled veins show similar mineralization to that previously identified in the JAK Zone and are expected to have similar grades.

John Pearson, MSc., P.Geo., Vice-President Exploration for GWMG, is the qualified person responsible for reviewing the contents of this news release.

Jim Engdahl, President and CEO of Great Western Minerals Group said "We are pleased to be able to get back on track more aggressively with our exploration activities, particularly on our Hoidas Lake project. As we noted in previous releases, our objective was to double the resource estimate for this project and this update could move us significantly down the road to doing that. What we still find exciting is the fact that our drilling programs to date only cover about 1,000 metres of strike and indications show it is open in all directions.”

About Great Western Minerals Group Ltd.

Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. is a Canadian-based company with six rare earth exploration and development properties in North America with an option on a sizable additional property in South Africa . In addition, as part of the Company's strategy to pursue a vertically-integrated business model, the Company's wholly-owned subsidiaries of Less Common Metals Limited located in Birkenhead UK, and Great Western Technologies Inc., located in Troy, Michigan, produce a variety of specialty alloys for use in the battery, magnet and aerospace industries. These "designer" alloys include those containing copper, nickel, cobalt and the rare earth elements.

For further information, please contact Ron Malashewski, Manager of Investor Relations at (306) 659-4516. Email inquiries should be made to info@gwmg.ca and the company website is located at www.gwmg.ca. Inquiries by direct mail should be addressed to Great Western Minerals Group Ltd., 226 Cardinal Crescent , Saskatoon , SK S7L 6H8 .