Mr. James McDonald reports

KOOTENAY SILVER ANNOUNCES COMMENCEMENT OF 2024 DRILLING PROGRAM AT COLUMBA HIGH GRADE SILVER PROJECT

Kootenay Silver Inc. has begun its Q1 diamond drilling program at Columba silver project in Chihuahua, Mexico. The proposed program includes 15-17 drill holes for a combined 5,000 metres and is designed to expand upon previous intercepts along the highly prospective D-Vein target.

Recent drilling in late 2023 focused on the D-Vein target, a silver bearing quartz-calcite-barite vein structure hosting the highest grades and widths yet seen at Columba. D-Vein has been intercepted by drilling over a length of 450 metres horizontally and to a depth of 250 metres. Geological mapping and sampling indicate an additional 800 metres of prospective strike length before the interpreted D-Vein structure intersects with the trace of the B-Vein/F-Vein corridor.

Highlights from the 2023 program include drilled widths such as 13.56 metres of 599 grams per tonne (gpt) silver, 8.19 metres of 532 gpt silver and 10.26 metres of 501 gpt silver.

Kootenay's president and chief executive officer, James McDonald, states: "D-Vein target has continued to return excellent grades and widths. Our most recent drilling program concluded in late 2023 and intercepted D Vein in each of the 12 holes. We are very pleased with the exceptional silver grades and consistent mineralized widths we see on that vein. We commence drilling in 2024 with the aim of adding sufficient data to calculate our first mineral resource estimate at Columba by the end of the year."

Characteristic features of drill intercepts at Columba drilling and D-Vein in particular are broad zones of mineralized stock work adjacent to veins, as evidenced in CDH-21-110, CDH-22-125, CDH-23-138 and CDH-23-141 quoted in the D-Vein portion of the attached table.

The company has completed over 30,000 metres of diamond drilling in 147 holes at Columba since 2019 and intercepted numerous veins with high silver grades and widths indicating excellent resource potential. Prospective veins on the project are hosted within a volcanic caldera setting, the surface extent of mapped veins measuring roughly four kilometres by three kilometres. Management believes that Columba may be a newly recognized vein district that is nearly entirely preserved from erosion.

The current drilling program is designed to extend the D-Vein in preparation of a follow-up program of likely 15,000 metres, aimed to delineate a maiden resource expected in late 2024 which is dependent on additional drilling beyond the 5,000-metre program and the financing it requires. In addition to the D-Vein, the company maintains a priority list of new vein targets and known vein extensions all warranting drill testing.

Other news.

The company also reports that Kootenay Resources Inc. which is a spin out of the company and holds the Canadian assets announced it has been approved for conditional listing on the Toronto Venture Exchange pending meeting minimum financing requirements. Additionally, Kootenay Resources announced a financing of flow-through and non-flow-through shares priced at 15 cents and 10 cents per share respectively for finances totalling $500,000. The company holds approximately 14 per cent of the issued shares of Kootenay Resources.

Sampling and QA/QC (quality assurance/quality control) at Columba

All technical information for the Columba exploration program is obtained and reported under a formal quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program. Samples are taken from core cut in half with a diamond saw under the direction of qualified geologists and engineers. Samples are then labelled, placed in plastic bags, sealed and with interval and sample numbers recorded. Samples are delivered by the company to ALS Minerals in Chihuahua. The company inserts blanks, standards and duplicates at regular intervals as follows. On average, a blank is inserted every 100 samples beginning at the start of sampling and again when leaving the mineral zone. Standards are inserted when entering the potential mineralized zone and, in the middle of them, on average one in every 25 samples is a standard. Duplicates are taken in the mineralized intervals at an average two duplicates for each hole.

The samples are dried, crushed and pulverized with the pulps being sent airfreight for analysis by ALS in Vancouver, B.C. Systematic assaying of standards, blanks and duplicates is performed for precision and accuracy. Analysis for silver, zinc, lead and copper and related trace elements was done by ICP four-acid digestion, with gold analysis by 30-gram fire assay with an AA finish. All drilling reported is HQ core and was completed by Globextools SA de CV of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.

Qualified persons

The Kootenay technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects) and reviewed and approved on behalf of Kootenay by Dale Brittliffe, BSc, PGeol, vice-president, exploration of Kootenay Silver, is the company's nominated qualified person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 (Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects), has reviewed the scientific and technical information disclosed in this news release. Mr. Brittliffe is not independent of Kootenay Silver.

About Kootenay Silver Inc.

Kootenay Silver is an exploration company actively engaged in the discovery and development of mineral projects in the Sierra Madre region of Mexico. Supported by one of the largest junior portfolios of silver assets in Mexico, Kootenay continues to provide its shareholders with significant leverage to silver prices.

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