GREAT BASIN GOLD PROVIDES OPERATIONAL UPDATE

VANCOUVER, May 3 /CNW/ --
Including initial Production and Revenue from the Burnstone Mine

VANCOUVER, May 3 /CNW/ - Great Basin Gold Ltd. ('Great Basin Gold' or
the 'Company'), (TSX: GBG) (NYSE: GBG) (Amex: GBG) (JSE: GBG) reports
an operational update for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 (Q1 2011).
The Company will file its interim financial statements for Q1 2011 on
May 16, 2011 and will hold an earnings call on May 17, 2011 at 9 am
(EST).

Burnstone

The Metallurgical Plant, as well as all other major capital projects was
successfully commissioned by the end of January 2011. During the
quarter, Burnstone recovered 5,511 gold ounces (Au oz) and sold 2,794
oz to record its maiden revenue of $3.8 million. The cash production
cost per tonne for the period is estimated at US$70 (ZAR490), which is
in-line with the planned cost during production build-up. Ounces
recovered were predominantly from development ore processed, which at a
lower head grade of 0.03 Au oz/t (1.03 g/t) grade resulted in a gold
recovery of 83%.  Gold recoveries are expected to improve as the grade
of the mill feed increases.  The impact of the lower head grade
resulted in a cash production cost of approximately US$1,365 (ZAR
9,555) per oz.

The Metallurgical Plant processed approximately 200,000 tonnes during
the quarter, in-line with the production build-up plan. Underground
tonnes are being augmented with the stockpile material to allow the
mill to operate at an average of 90,000 tonnes per month until such
time as production from underground is sufficient to increase to the
planned processing rate of 125,000 tonnes per month.

Mechanized development continued with 3,288 meters being developed
during the quarter against a plan of 3,600 meters, bringing the total
development for the project to date to 12,402 meters of which 6,855 are
on reef.  Long Hole Stoping continued with a total of 6,000 square
meters stoped to date. Good progress was made with the second phase of
the shaft infrastructure on 40 and 41 Level, with the tramming loop and
second access to the shaft tip being completed. This will alleviate the
congestion at the tips and allow for the further ramp-up of tonnes
though the shaft system. Over and above the area stoped to date, 16
panels were also drilled and available for blasting at the end of
March, 2011.

Hollister

During the quarter, 21,828 tonnes were extracted through trial mining at
Hollister, an average grade of 1.03 gold equivalent oz (Au eqv oz)(1). Hollister maintained its production momentum from Q4 2010 by
recovering 28,500 Au eqv oz, of which only 17,500 Au eqv oz were
recognized in revenue as an additional 11,000 Au eqv oz were delivered
but not sold to the refiner by quarter end. Until such time as the
installation of the acid regeneration system has been completed at the
Esmeralda Mill, the Company will continue to ship-loaded carbon to the
refinery as opposed to doré, there will be a timing delay on when the
revenue from these ounces can be recognized.

Since the introduction of clean carbon in February 2011, Au recoveries
have exceeded 90%, with the Au recovery for the quarter being 88%, and
Ag recoveries increasing to 68%. The Esmeralda Mill treated 21,634
tonnes during the quarter with an average head grade of approximately 1
Au eqv oz/t (32.15 g/t). Cash costs for the quarter are estimated at
US$680 per Au eqv ounce.  Although the overall average in-situ grades
in the Blanket Zone are lower than what was encountered in the super
high grade area, an additional 1,025 tons were mined during the
quarter, at an average grade in excess of 3 Au eqv oz/t.

The delay in recognizing revenue from the Nevada operations had a
negative impact on the earnings for the quarter. The net loss for the
quarter is also impacted by the fair value charges attributable to the
mark-to-market of the zero-cost collar hedge programs, as well as the
settlement loss recognized on repayment of the Senior Secured Notes in
March 2011. The adjusted loss per share for the quarter is estimated at
$0.01 with the loss per share $0.05. The Company had $68 million in
cash reserves on March 31, 2011.

Ferdi Dippenaar, Great Basin Gold President and CEO, commented:
'Although experiencing the usual challenges with bringing a new mine
into production, Burnstone is settling into a production rhythm and the
progress made by the team on a monthly basis is reassuring. Production
is expected to increase to 18,000 ounces in Q2 2011. The Nevada
operations showed improvements in a number of areas during the quarter,
notably on ounces recovered through trial mining as well as the
improved recoveries at our Esmeralda Mill.  The latter improvement
especially pleasing with the impact already evident in both the
resulting cash costs and the ounces delivered to the refinery. Not
being able to recognize all ounces at the refiners has impacted our
operating margins as well as earnings. Our short to medium term focus
at both of these operations is to increase production and manage costs,
and unlock the intrinsic value of these quality projects.'

Johan Oelofse, Pr.Eng., FSAIMM, Chief Operating Officer  of Great Basin
Gold, a Qualified Person as defined by regulatory policy, has reviewed
and assumed responsibility for the technical information contained in
this release.

No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information
contained in this news release.

Cautionary and Forward Looking Statement Information

This document contains 'forward-looking statements' that were based on
Great Basin's expectations, estimates and projections as of the dates
as of which those statements were made. Generally, these
forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of
forward-looking terminology such as 'outlook', 'anticipate', 'project',
'target', 'believe', 'estimate', 'expect', 'intend', 'should' and
similar expressions.

Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual
results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be
materially different from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. These include but are not limited to:

    --  uncertainties and costs related to the Company's exploration
        and development activities, such as those associated with
        determining whether mineral resources or reserves exist on a
        property;
    --  uncertainties related to Technical Reports that provide
        estimates of expected or anticipated costs, expenditures and
        economic returns from a mining project; uncertainties related
        to expected production rates, timing of production and the cash
        and total costs of production and milling;
    --  uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary
        licenses, permits, electricity, surface rights and title for
        development projects;
    --  operating and technical difficulties in connection with mining
        development activities;
    --  uncertainties related to the accuracy of our mineral reserve
        and mineral resource estimates and our estimates of future
        production and future cash and total costs of production, and
        the geotechnical or hydrogeological nature of ore deposits, and
        diminishing quantities or grades of mineral reserves;
    --  uncertainties related to unexpected judicial or regulatory
        proceedings;
    --  changes in, and the effects of, the laws, regulations and
        government policies affecting our mining operations,
        particularly laws, regulations and policies relating to
  o mine expansions, environmental protection and associated compliance
    costs arising from exploration, mine development, mine operations
    and mine closures;
  o expected effective future tax rates in jurisdictions in which our
    operations are located;
  o the protection of the health and safety of mine workers; and
  o mineral rights ownership in countries where our mineral deposits
    are located, including the effect of the Mineral and Petroleum
    Resources Development Act (South Africa);
    --  changes in general economic conditions, the financial markets
        and in the demand and market price for gold, silver and other
        minerals and commodities, such as diesel fuel, coal, petroleum
        coke, steel, concrete, electricity and other forms of energy,
        mining equipment, and fluctuations in exchange rates,
        particularly with respect to the value of the U.S. dollar,
        Canadian dollar and South African rand;
    --  unusual or unexpected formation, cave-ins, flooding, pressures,
        and precious metals losses (and the risk of inadequate
        insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these
        risks);
    --  changes in accounting policies and methods we use to report our
        financial condition, including uncertainties associated with
        critical accounting assumptions and estimates;
        environmental issues and liabilities associated with mining
        including processing and stock piling ore;
    --  geopolitical uncertainty and political and economic instability
        in countries which we operate;  and
    --  labour strikes, work stoppages, or other interruptions to, or
        difficulties in, the employment of labour in markets in which
        we operate mines, or environmental hazards, industrial
        accidents or other events or occurrences, including third party
        interference that interrupt the production of minerals in our
        mines.

For further information on Great Basin Gold, investors should review the
Company's annual Form 40-F filing with the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission www.sec.com and home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.  The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking
information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions
should change except as required by law.

Cautionary Note regarding Non-GAAP Measurements

Cash production cost per ounce/tonne is a not a generally accepted
accounting principles ('GAAP') based figure but rather is intended to
serve as a performance measure providing some indication of the mining
and processing efficiency and effectiveness. It is determined by
dividing the relevant mining and processing costs including royalties
by the ounces produced/tonnes milled in the period. There may be some
variation in the method of computation of 'cash production cost per
ounce/tonne' as determined by the Company compared with other mining
companies. Cash production costs per ounce/tonne may vary from one
period to another due to operating efficiencies, waste to ore ratios,
grade of ore processed and gold recovery rates in the period. We
provide this measure to our investors to allow them to also monitor
operational efficiencies. As a Non-GAAP Financial Measure cash
production costs should not be considered in isolation or as a
substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with
GAAP. There is material limitations associated with the use of such
Non-GAAP measures.

_______________________________

(1) Gold equivalent is calculated using metal prices of $1,350 per ounce
for gold and $25 per ounce for silver.

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For additional details on Great Basin Gold and its gold properties as well as further particulars about the financial and operational update, please visit the Company's website at www.grtbasin.com or contact Investor Services: