TORONTO, ONTARIO--(March 9, 2009) - ECU Silver Mining Inc. ("ECU Silver" or the

"Company") (TSX:ECU) is pleased to report that it has completed its previously

announced acquisition of a carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing plant located in Velardeña,

Mexico (the “Plant”) from a subsidiary of Hecla Mining Company (“Hecla”).

Michel Roy, Chairman and CEO of ECU Silver, stated that “this is an excellent

transaction for the Company. We are very familiar with this plant since we sold it to Hecla

in 2001. Our re-acquisition of this plant will give us a second milling operation designed to

make gold and silver doré bars. In these difficult times, this will permit us to re-emerge as

a cash-flow positive mining company backstopped by a significant mineral resource”.

Stephen Altmann, President of ECU Silver, added that “we are committed to providing

our shareholders with a financially healthy company that will endure through these

difficult times. The plant acquisition, along with our existing facilities, will provide us with

an excellent platform for our future growth”.

The Plant is a 500 tonne-per-day (“tpd”) conventional leach, counter-current decantation

and Merrill Crowe precipitation circuit which was operated by Hecla from 2001 to 2005,

after which it was placed on care and maintenance.

Due to the good condition of the Plant, the Company believes that the costs associated

with re-commissioning of the Plant should not exceed US$500,000. Any upgrades to

improve the recovery of gold and silver and expand the capacity of the Plant will be

evaluated and implemented after re-commissioning and start-up.

The Company intends to use the Plant to treat its existing oxide mineral resource

containing 1,075,000 tonnes in the measured and indicated category and 379,000 tonnes

in the inferred category. The Company expects to operate the Plant at an initial rate of

300 tpd and gradually ramp-up to 500 tpd.

As a result of the closing of the acquisition of the Plant, the 25,000,000 subscription

receipts (“Subscription Receipts”) issued by the Company on February 20, 2009 have

been converted into common shares of the Company (“Common Shares”) and Common

Share purchase warrants (“Warrants”) on the basis of one Common Share and one

Warrant for each Subscription Receipt. Each Warrant entitles its holder to acquire one

Common Share at a price of CDN$0.95 per share at any time until February 20, 2014.

As a consequence of the conversion of the Subscription Receipts into Common Shares

and Warrants, the CDN$16,887,500 in proceeds raised from the public offering of the

Subscription Receipts (the “Offering”) and which had previously been placed into escrow

have been released to the Company, net of an amount of CDN$789,619.38 which has

been released to Blackmont Capital Inc. and TD Securities Inc. in payment of the balance

of the commission owing to them in connection with the Offering as well as their

expenses related thereto. From these net proceeds, the Company has paid

US$8,000,000 to Hecla in payment of the cash portion of the purchase price for the Plant.

The Company has also issued to Hecla an aggregate of 750,000 Common Shares in

payment of the balance of the purchase price for the Plant.

ECU Silver is focused on the exploration, development and mining of precious and base

metals at its Velardeña District Properties in Durango, Mexico. The area is comprised of

three properties, the Main Velardeña Property, the Chicago Property and the San Diego

Joint Venture Property. The properties contain a measured and indicated mineral

resource of 40,000,000 silver equivalent ounces and an inferred mineral resource of

ECU Silver Mining Inc.

Stephen Altmann

President

(416) 366-2428

The economic viability of the Plant is based on mineral resources identified on the Velardeña

District Properties and reported in the Company’s National Instrument 43-101(“NI 43-101”)

technical report dated January 20, 2009. Until the economic viability of the Velardeña District

Properties has been determined and mineral resources have been converted to mineral reserves

by at least a preliminary feasibility study confirmed in a technical report as required by NI 43-101,

there can be no assurances that the mineralized resources identified on the Velardeña District

Properties will be economically viable, nor can there be any assurance that the Plant will be

economically viable.

Certain information contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking information"

with respect to the Company, which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to

the future financial or operating performance of the Company and its projects, exploration

expenditures, costs and timing of future exploration, requirements for additional capital and

regulatory matters. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use

of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts",

"intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and

phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be

taken, occur or be achieved.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors

which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially

different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the

forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, general business, economic,

competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current exploration activities;

conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be

refined; the future price of silver and other metals; possible variations of mineralization grades or

recovery rates; failure of the Plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents,

equipment breakdowns, labour disputes and other risks which may arise in the mining industry;

changes in planned work resulting from weather, logistical, technical or other factors; delays in

obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction

activities.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions,

events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may

be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or

intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press

release. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as

actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

The Toronto Stock Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy

of this press release.

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