Mr. James McDonald reports

KOOTENAY SILVER ANNOUNCES DRILLING IS UNDERWAY AT THE COLUMBA HIGH GRADE SILVER PROJECT

Drilling is under way for Kootenay Silver Inc.'s Q1/Q2 diamond drilling program at the Columba silver project, Chihuahua, Mexico. The proposed program includes 15 to 17 drill holes for a combined 5,000 metres and is designed to expand upon previous intercepts along the highly prospective D-vein target.

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. The first assay results are expected in four to six weeks time.

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.

Kootenay's president and chief executive officer, James McDonald, states: "We are very excited to get under way drilling Columba once again. The initial holes of this program will be shallow to confirm dip and then will transition into large stepouts along strike of around 100 metres. This is to quickly determine and demonstrate the overall size of the D-vein shoot along strike."

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.

Sampling and 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, and sealed 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 inductively coupled plasma four-acid digestion, with gold analysis by 30-gram fire assay with an atomic absorption 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, the company's nominated qualified person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, who 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. The company remains focused on the expansion of its current silver resources, new discoveries and the near-term economic development of its priority silver projects located in prolific mining districts in Sonora state and Chihuahua state, Mexico, respectively.

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