Mr. James McDonald reports

KOOTENAY COMPLETES NI 43-101 TECHNICAL REPORT DETAILING 54 MOZ AT 284 GPT SILVER MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE AT COLUMBA PROJECT, RECOMMENCES EXTENSION DRILLING

Kootenay Silver Inc. has filed the independently prepared National Instrument 43-101 technical report, supporting the first-ever mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its 100-per-cent-owned Columba silver project, located in Chihuahua, Mexico.

The technical report, entitled "Technical Report on the Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate for the Columba Ag-Pb-Zn Project, Chihuahua State, Mexico," and dated Aug. 1, 2025 (MRE effective date of May 29, 2025), has been filed on SEDAR+ and is also available at the company's website.

The company is also extremely pleased to announce recommencement of drilling activities at Columba this week. The new program marks the seventh phase of drilling since work began in 2019, and is primarily designed to extend all mineralized zones to depth and along strike.

Kootenay's president and chief executive officer, James McDonald, states:

"We are extremely happy with the first-ever mineral resource estimate at Columba. We are also pleased to announce that drilling has recommenced at Columba. Our drilling plan includes extension drilling on all mineralized structures still open in all directions."

Highlights of the Columba property MRE are as follows:

• The underground MRE includes, at a base-case cut-off grade of 150 gpt (grams per tonne) silver (Ag), inferred mineral resources estimated at 5.92 million tonnes (t) grading 284 gpt silver, 0.19 per cent lead and 0.50 per cent zinc. The mineral resource estimate includes inferred mineral resources of 54.1 million ounces (oz) of silver, 25.2 million pounds (lb) of lead and 65.6 million lb of zinc. The MRE is exclusive of mined out material (F vein).
• A total of 17 epithermal veins that comprise the Columba vein system were included in the mineral resource estimate.

A comprehensive list of drill results completed on the Columba property since 2019 may be viewed on the company's website.

About Columba project

The Columba project is a classic high-grade epithermal vein system. That management believes is a newly recognized vein district. It is typical in character and size of other vein districts in Mexico known to have deposited significant resources of silver or gold such as La Chispas and Panuco.

Hosted within a volcanic caldera setting, the surface extent of mapped veins measures roughly four kilometres by three kilometres. Vein mineralization occurs over a minimum vertical extent of 350 metres as shown by drilling. The veins appear to be intermediate sulphidation veins indicating the potential for depths exceeding 700 metres of vertical extent. This remains to be tested and all veins remain open to depth.

The veins cut every known rock type on the project and the veins or vein structures can be traced across the highest elevations of the caldera. This indicates veins formed late in caldera history. As elevation increases vein development becomes irregular eventually being replaced by breccias at the higher elevations. Silver grades diminish with increasing elevation right down to background values. Correspondingly, silver grades increase with depth from background at higher elevations to highs of kilograms per tonne at depth. It is evident from these features that the vein system has undergone almost no erosion and so whatever silver was deposited originally is largely still there.

A general rule of thumb on the project is at levels deeper than 1,750 metres above sea level is where good grades begin to appear. This is what is referred to as the grade line.

Prior to Kootenay Silver no exploration had occurred at Columba in nearly 40 years. Historically, there were two periods of mining on one of the veins referred to as the F vein. The first being in the early 1900s, when underground development included six drifts (tunnels) at different levels coming off a 200-metre-deep shaft. This work was halted by the Mexican revolution. Then a second brief period of mining occurred around 1958 to 1960, when a small private company used the old development to mine. It is estimated that around 100,000 tonnes were mined.

Kootenay acquired 100 per cent of the project and has completed detailed mapping, lidar (light detection and ranging) and airborne magnetic surveys, along with over 53,000 metres of drilling in over 200 holes across various veins. The company also has a 24-year surface access agreement that includes annual and other payments, and allows for both exploration and exploitation. The agreement covers all the mineralized areas drilled to date.

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 (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, 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 (inductively coupled plasma) four-acid digestion, with gold analysis by 30-gram fire assay with an AA (atomic absorption) finish. All drilling reported is HQ core and was completed by Globextools S.A. de C.V., of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.

Qualified persons

The mineral resource was estimated by Ben Eggers, MAIG, PGeo, of SGS Geological Services, an independent qualified person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Eggers conducted a site visit to the Columba property on May 28, 2025. The mineral resource was peer reviewed by Allan Armitage, PhD, PGeo, of SGS Geological Services, an independent qualified person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Armitage conducted a site visit to the Columba property on May 24, 2024, to May 25, 2024.

The Kootenay technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and reviewed and approved on behalf of Kootenay by Dale Brittliffe, BSc, PGeol, vic-president, exploration, of Kootenay Silver, the company's nominated qualified person pursuant to NI 43-101, Standards for 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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