SILVERBUGS (SILVER)

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KOOTENAY TO COMMENCE DRILLING AT COLUMBA SILVER PROJECT, MEXICO

July 2, 2019

Kootenay Silver Inc. (TSXV: KTN; OTC: KOOYF) (the “Company” or “Kootenay”) is pleased to announce a drill rig has been mobilized to commence a minimum 3,000-meter core drill program at the Columba silver project (“Columba” or “Property”) located in Chihuahua State, Mexico.

Kootenay President and CEO, James McDonald stated: “We are excited to test the vein system to confirm the historically reported grades and widths. The first 12 holes of the drill program will be designed to test the F vein where underground development work extended to 200 meter depth and the historic mining occurred.”

Columba covers a large high-grade epithermal vein system which the Company has mapped and sampled with grades retuning up to 693 gpt silver on surface.The project area includes a network of underground workings comprised of 4 shafts and 6 levels of drifts reported to measure over 1,000 meters in length.Historic* mine records indicate grades from these underground workings to range from 600 to 900 gpt silver with highlights of 1,900 gpt silver over 4 meters and 679 gpt silver along 133 meters of vein strike and 1.3 meters of vein width. Click on this link to view a video that illustrates the historic underground mining data: https://player.vimeo.com/video/315503572

The Company has contracted GlobeXplore, S.A. de C.V. of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico to conduct the drilling at Columba.Results of the drill program will be announced as soon as the assays are received and interpreted by the Company.

* The Company cautions that a qualified person has not done sufficient work to verify the historical sampling data and has not substantiated any data as it pertains to the Property; therefore, the reader should not rely upon such historical grades. The information is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the Property and is provided as background and context material for the reader.The Company is treating the historical sampling data as a guideline to determining potential future exploration programs.

The Company also announces stock purchase options have been granted under the Company’s stock option plan to officers, directors, employees and consultants to purchase up to an aggregate of 8.45 million shares of Kootenay at a price of $0.14 per common share for a period of five years.

About Columba

Columba is a past producing high-grade silver mine, which operated on a small scale circa 1910 and again briefly circa 1958-60.The Property covers a large, potentially high-grade silver epithermal system comprised of numerous veins, which the Company has mapped over strike lengths from 200 meters to up to 2 kilometers.

Columba Geology

Mineralization at Columba is text book low to medium sulfidation epithermal vein hosted, displaying the classic zonation from non or weakly anomalous silver at high elevations that increase with depth into the classic high-grade zones that make them such profitable deposit types. (Click on link to view an image that shows this zonation on the Property).

https://www.kootenaysilver.com/assets/img/nr/18-24_COLUMBA_GRADES_INCREASE.pdf

Sampling and QA/QC

Surface samples reported herein are a combination of grab, chip and panel chip. 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 under the direction of qualified geologists. Samples are then labeled placed in plastic bags, sealed and with interval, location and sample numbers recorded. Samples are delivered by the Company via courier to ALS Minerals ("ALS") in Hermosillo. 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.

Qualified Persons

The Kootenay scientific and 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 Kootenay by James McDonald, P.Geo, President, CEO & Director for Kootenay, a Qualified Person.

About Kootenay Silver Inc.

Kootenay Silver Inc. is an exploration company actively engaged in the discovery and development of mineral projects in the Sierra Madre Region of Mexico and in British Columbia, Canada. Supported by one of the largest 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 two of its priority silver projects located in prolific mining districts in Sonora, State and Chihuahua, State, Mexico, respectively.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of

KOOTENAY SILVER INC.

“James McDonald”

President & CEO

For additional information, please contact:

James McDonald, CEO and President at 403-880-6016

Ken Berry, Chairman at 604-601-5652; 1-888-601-5650

or visit: https://www.kootenaysilver.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

https://kootenaysilver.com/news/kootenay/2019/kootenay-to-commence-drilling-at-columba-silver-project-mexico