I am very pleased to report that we have made significant progress towards rebuilding shareholder value. In the past six months we have:

- sold our interest in the Boka property in China for US$9.4 million (see press release dated May 16, 2008);

- joint ventured our Cristo de los Andes porphyry Cu-Mo project in Peru to Antares Minerals Inc., whereby Antares can earn a 60% interest in the project by completing a bankable feasibility study (see press release dated April 28, 2008);

- assisted with the sale of Newmont Mining's 50% joint venture interest in our Peru "Liam Silver-Gold Project" to Hochschild Mining for US$33.3 million (see press release dated August 21, 2008);

- entered into an agreement to settle class actions commenced against the Company, for actions undertaken by the Company's former president, on terms that provide our reconstituted management team a reasonable platform to rebuild shareholder value (see press release dated September 10, 2008);

- entered into a strategic alliance agreement with Hochschild Mining, one of the world's leading precious metals mining companies, which among other things provides that Hochschild will subscribe for 4,991,438 common shares, which will represent 10% of the Company's then issued shares, at $0.90 each, for gross proceeds of approximately $4.5 million, subject to certain closing conditions (see press release dated September 16, 2008); and

- increased the area of our concessions within Peru by staking 87,000 hectares in 2008 in addition to the 95,000 hectares that we staked in 2007.

All of the above-referenced press releases are available for viewing on the Company's website at www.swgold.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The Company's strategic alliance agreement with Hochschild is of particular importance to our strategy of expediting the development of projects in the Liam JV where we have thus far identified 38 exploration prospects within a concession area that covers 2,820 square kilometres. The Company believes that there is good potential for short-term production from Liam, initially from Cerro Crespo/Queshca. Hochschild operates four silver-gold mines nearby in and around Liam, thereby allowing any ores that may be mined from our prospects to be processed at their existing facilities, and bypassing the need to build new processing facilities.

Drilling has recently commenced on three projects - Millo, Antay and Alpacocha. Further drilling programs have been planned on three other projects in 2008, subject to final approvals and permits. Over 12,000 metres of drilling have been budgeted to advance these six projects, three of which are focused on gold-silver (Liam, Millo and Pacapausa), and three on copper-molybdenum-gold (Antay, Cristo de los Andes and Alpacocha), briefly described below.

Liam (Au-Ag)

Liam is located some 130 kilometres southwest of Cuzco in Peru, and is a 50/50 JV with Hochschild Mining plc.