***Precious Metals Investors Club***

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KOOTENAY ANNOUNCES DRILLING BEGINS AT COLUMBA HIGH-GRADE SILVER PROJECT, MEXICO

February 19, 2020

Kootenay Silver Inc. (TSXV: KTN; OTC: KOOYF) (the "Company" or "Kootenay") is pleased to announce the commencement of a 7,000-meter Phase II core drilling program (the "Program") following up on high grade results from the 2019 campaign at the Columba silver project ("Columba" or "Property") in Chihuahua State, Mexico.

Follow up drilling will focus on the results of Kootenay's 2019 inaugural 41-hole, 6,853-meter program, which targeted six different veins on the Property. Highlights from the 2019 drill program included the following:

CDH 19-005:
* 775 gpt silver over 1.15 meters within 518 gpt silver over 2 meters and 230 gpt silver over 4.83 meters (F Vein)

CDH 19-009:
* 519 gpt silver over 2.90 meters including, 1,070 gpt silver over 0.90 meters. Within the newly discovered hanging wall vein;
* 50.0 gpt silver over 10.40 meters followed by a 3.0-meter mined stope or tunnel interpreted as the F Vein (hanging wall stockwork).

CDH 19-011:
* 648 gpt silver and 0.64 gpt gold over 1.0 meter within 245 gpt silver over 5.0 meters and 133 gpt silver over 11 meters (intercepting the F Vein)
* 228 gpt over 1.2 meters and 102 gpt over 1.87 meters (Two separate footwall veins intercepted)

CDH 19-012:
* 699 gpt over 2.1 meters, 113 gpt silver over 1.35 meters, and 113 gpt silver over 0.6 meters (Three separate hanging wall veins)
* 755 gpt silver and 1.16 gpt gold over 1.75 meters within 476 gpt silver and 0.66 gpt gold over 3.15 meters and 184 gpt silver and 0.21 gpt gold over 11.0 meters (F Vein)
* 111 gpt silver over 2.0 meters (Footwall Vein)

Hole CDH-19-022:
* 244 gpt silver over 6.25 meters including, 373 gpt silver over 1.5 meters (intercepting the D Vein)

Hole CDH-19-030:
* 982 gpt silver over 1.9 meters within an intercept of 721 gpt silver over 4 meters and 415 gpt silver over 11.5 meters. The overall interval averaged 200 gpt silver over 25.85 meters intercepting quartz veinlets and hydrothermal breccias across the J Vein structure.

Hole CDH-19-31:
* 776 gpt Ag over 0.63 meters within 314 gpt Ag over 3 meters.

Hole CDH-19-38:
* 629 gpt Ag over 1.5 meters within 301 gpt Ag over 4.63 meters.

Hole CDH-19-041 (Twin of CDH-19-008):
* 650 gpt silver over 7.45 meters within a wider interval of 159 gpt silver over 39.9 meters intercepting banded quartz vein (F Vein) including 919 gpt silver over 1.15 meters; 953 gpt silver over 1 meter; 527 gpt silver over 1 meter; 860 gpt silver over 1 meter and 715 gpt silver over 1.8 meters.

Detailed results for all holes can be viewed on the following link: Columba Drill Results, https://tinyurl.com/wthwnjm

Phase II drilling will include two drill rigs. The first drill rig will concentrate on the historically mined F Vein, infilling large gaps between phase I holes and defining the strike length and depth extent. Both of which are open. The 2019 drilling along the F Vein intercepted high-grade silver over a strike length of 700 meters and to depths of over 200 meters. A second drill rig will follow once camp preparations are ready and will start in about 4 weeks' time. The second drill rig will test numerous other high-grade hits on different veins such as CDH-19-030, 31 and 38 mentioned above. Drill testing will include several other priority areas and structures that provide excellent potential for high-grade discovery; specifically, along veins where 2019 drilling intercepted favorable widths and appreciable silver grades.

Kootenay President and CEO, James McDonald stated: "These next 6 months will be very exciting as we will have a steady flow of news from two drills at Columba while we follow up on the numerous high grades confirmed from the 2019 program. Not only that but we are preparing an inaugural drill program for our second high-grade vein property Copalito; expected to begin in the first quarter."

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.

About the Columba Property
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 high-grade epithermal vein system which the Kootenay has mapped over strike lengths from 200 meters to up to 2 kilometers 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.

Columba Geology
Mineralization at Columba is textbook 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.

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 foracy or accuracy of this release.

https://www.kootenaysilver.com/news/kootenay/2020/kootenay-announces-drilling-begins-at-columba-high-grade-silver-project-mexico