2006

2006 Work Program on Ying Silver Project: 30,600 metres of Tunnelling and 32,800 metres of Drilling

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - March 2 , 2006 - Silvercorp Metals Inc. ("Silvercorp") is pleased to report the 2005 exploration and development program summary and the 2006 plan and budget for its high-grade Silver-Lead-Zinc Ying project in Henan province, China. Work is carried out through Silvercorp's 77.5% subsidiary Henan Found Mining Co. Ltd. The 2006 budget, which runs from January 31, to December 31, 2006 , is anticipated to be financed entirely by cash flow generated from production.

2005 Exploration and Development Summary

On the Ying project in 2005, Silvercorp completed 25,590 meters (m) of tunneling and 10,795m of drilling in 73 surface and underground drill holes. Three 3.8m diameter shafts were commenced and are well underway, with head frames installed in all three and hoists installed in two. The 2005 program was generally completed on time, or ahead of schedule.

Based on the extensive exploration and development work completed in 2005, SRK Consulting has been retained to complete a review of Resources, which should be completed by the end of April 2006 and is expected to substantially increase the last Resource estimate released in April 2005.

Exploration and development phase production during 2005 included:

> 31,642 tonnes of ore was recovered as a by-product during the tunnel development process;

> 1,874 tonnes of direct-to-smelter massive galena ore were manually picked out of the by-product ore., of which 1,300 tonnes were sold to local smelters at an average price of US$803 per tonne;

> Off-site custom milling processed 27,630 tonnes of diluted low grade ore, yielding 2,581 tonnes of lead-silver concentrate and 1,178 tonnes of zinc concentrate, which was sold to local smelters in a 30-kilometer radius from the SGX area at average prices of US$1,059 and US$536 per tonne, respectively.

The detailed work completed in 2005 is listed in the table below.

Exploration Tunnels	12,453.80 meters
Mine Development Tunnels	13,536.49 meters
Underground Drilling	7,613.07 meters
Surface Drilling	3,181.90 meters
Shafts sunk	70.00 meters
Channel Samples #	2,290
Drill Core Samples #	675
By Product  Ore	31,642.47 tonnes
including Massive Galena ore	1,873.59 tonnes
Low grade Ag-Pb ore	7,590.51 tonnes
Low grade Ag-Pb-Zn ore	22,178.37 tonnes
Custom Mill ed ore	27,630.34 tonnes
Concentrate Production	3,759.20 tonnes
including Pb-Ag Concentrate	2,581.04 tonnes
Zn Concentrate	1,178.16 tonnes
Housing and Industrial Facilities Built	1,755.00 m2
Office Complex (70% completed)	1,200.00 m2
Mine Access Road	915.00 m
Settling Pond	160.00 m3
Crush Plant for Direct-to-Smelter Massive Galena  Ore	900.00 m2
Retaining Wall for Erosion Control	2,916.00 m3

2006 Development and Mining Program

In 2006, Henan Found Mining Co. Ltd. has budgeted substantial funds for exploration, mine development, mining and processing of ores, and construction of a 600 tonne per day mill. Infrastructure and exploration and development tunneling completed to date is extensive enough for production to commence immediately upon the issuance of the mining permit (See February 14, 2006 Release). The break-down of the expenditures is as follows:

> Development and mining tunnels : A total of 13,177m of mining and development tunnels is planned at an estimated cost of US$1.37 million, averaging US$104 per meter. The work will be mainly concentrated at the SGX camp, to extend main tunnels CM101 ( 2,150m ), CM102 ( 5,385m ), CM103 ( 3,262m ), PD700 ( 500m ), PD650 ( 650m ), and newly developed tunnel PD680 ( 400m ), with the balance set for the YLG camp, to extend YPD01 ( 500m ) and YM01 ( 330m ).

> Exploration tunnels on known veins : 10,790m of underground tunneling is planned with a budget of US$1.1 million or about US$102 per meter. These cross-cutting and drifting tunnels will be developed on the 14 known veins through access tunnels CM101, CM102, CM103, PD640, PD680, PD700, YPD01, YPD02, YM01 at the SGX area and C29 and C31 veins at the SDG area. The intent is to upgrade and expand silver resources from the veins.

> Exploration tunnels on 12 additional veins: US$0.67million has been budgeted to complete: 4,540 m of tunneling designed to intersect S9, S11, S12, S13, S14 at the east of northeast end of S8 vein at the YLG camp. A further 2,100m of tunnels will be developed at the southwest end of the S8 vein to detect the seven northeast trending veins at the HZG camp, where massive galena sheet mineralization grading over 80 oz of silver per tonne was recently discovered.

> Drilling: US$1.08 million is budgeted for 32,800m of drilling, averaging US$33 per meter. The drilling includes 71 underground holes totaling 25,705m and 16 surface holes totaling 7,090m . Underground drill holes together with exploration tunnels are to test continuity of mineralized veins to depth and along strike.

> Completing three shafts with hoists : US$1.07 million is budgeted to sink the three shafts a total of 900m and to install cages. By the end of the year, the three shafts are each expected to have been sunk to the 200m elevation, and cages and pumps will have been installed. Two of the shafts will be used to haul ore and waste with the third providing ventilation for the mine. When the shafts are operational at the beginning of 2007, tunnels will be developed at depth on six elevations (500m, 460m, 410m, 360m, 310m, and 260m levels).

> Surface facilities, Camp Construction, and Reclamation : US$0.26 million is budgeted to cover: completion of the 1,200 square meter office complex; building; a 600 tonne/day manual direct-to-smelter ore picking belt corridor; erosion and flood control facilities; additional housing and business centre construction, tree planting, water supplies, sewage handling and other civil infrastructure.

> Mining: With the mining permit anticipated to be in place towards the end of the 1 st quarter of 2006, US$1.3 million is allocated to extract 140,000 tonnes of ore (containing 50% high grade ores plus 50% waste rocks) from which 10,000 tonnes of massive galena are expected to be manually picked up for direct-to-smelter shipping, and 40,000 tonnes of waste rock will be hand picked for dumping, with 90,000 diluted lower grade ores shipped to third party mills for custom mill concentration.

> Shipping and Custom Milling cost : US$1.8 million is budgeted to ship and process 90,000 tonnes of ore at an average cost of US$20 per tonne. Since the proposed new mill will not be completed until the end of the first quarter of 2007, off-site custom mills will be used to process the SGX ore during 2006.

> Material and Equipment : US$0.71 million.

> Flotation Mill and tailings dam construction : US$3.05 million. This budget includes mill and tailings dam design; land leasing, ore hauling road construction, building and installing a 600-tonnes/day mill (consisting of a crusher, two 300 tonnes/day ball mills, separate lead and zinc flotation cells, filters) and construction of a tailings dam.

> Technical reports, General and Administration : US$2.4 million has been budgeted for the completion of technical reports, assaying, public relations, management and administration, salary and benefits, staff training, mining leasing, contingency and other expenses.

The 2006 budget is expected to be financed entirely by cash-flow generated from sales of ore obtained during continued mine development and exploration tunnellings and from mine production after obtaining the mining permit.


For further information: SILVERCORP METALS INC., Rui Feng, Chairman & CEO
Phone: (604) 669-9397, Fax: (604) 669-9387, Email: info@silvercorp.ca, Website: www.silvercorp.ca

Statements in this press release other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in the Company's business, including risks inherent in mineral exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.