Kootenay Silver Inc.  (TSX-V: KTN) is pleased to announce that a wholly owned Mexican subsidiary of the Company has entered into an option agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Columba silver project which hosts a past producing, high-grade silver mine, located in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico.

Kootenay President and CEO James McDonald states, “Columba is a very rare opportunity to get into a property with the potential for the discovery of classic high-grade Mexican style vein deposits. These opportunities only arise from the combination of depressed markets for silver and the success of our generative program to identify prospects.  As we have seen in recent months high-grade discoveries have added a lot of value to market cap to a handful of juniors. Based on our sampling and historic reports we believe that Columba has potential for such a discovery. We are very excited to get to work on rapidly advancing the Property to drilling hopefully by the first quarter of next year.”

Columba is a past producing high-grade silver mine, which operated from 1900 until 1910, when work ceased in the region due to the Mexican Revolution.  The Property covers a large, high-grade silver epithermal system comprised of numerous veins, which the Company has mapped over strike lengths from 200 meters to up to 2 kilometres. Recent channel sampling on these veins conducted by the Company has returned widths of 0.5 to 6 meters and carried grades of up to 692 gpt silver (see table at the end of the release for further details).  The Property has never been systematically explored in modern times.

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 to view an image that shows this zonation on the Property).

Background & Historical Data

Columba is an exciting target that not only hosts a series of high-grade silver veins on surface, but also extensive underground workings.  On surface four (4) old shafts are reported to extend to depths of up to 200 meters and connect to at least six (6) levels of widespread underground drifts covering lengths of up to 1,000 meters. (Click to view an image of Columba’s underground workings). The majority of the work appears to have been done in the early 1900’s and again in the mid 1900’s with an estimated 70,000 to 100,000 tonnes being mined. Kootenay is very encouraged with the results from its recent sampling and will be immediately exploring the Property to assess the potential for a new economic discovery.  To the best of the Company’s knowledge all mineralized zones at Columba, which include the multiple epithermal veins, have not been previously drilled. Historical reports obtained by Kootenay suggest the silver grades of the main veins sampled on surface increase significantly with depth. For example, highlights of historic data from underground workings at a depth of 100 metres include nine (9) individual channel samples taken along a 25-meter length of vein where several high-grade intervals were reported to return silver values from 350 gpt over 1.2 meters to a high of 1,900 gpt over 4 meters (see table below for sample details). This pattern observed in historic data is supported by sampling and mapping work completed by the Company on surface which shows the same pattern of increasing grades with decreasing elevation. 

Historic Sampling of Vein at 100-meter Depth

The historic data is from plan maps of sampling across the veins in underground workings and from smelter reports reporting on tonnes and grade of material delivered which are consistent with the historic plan maps. Assays taken by the Company of surface tailings are also consistent with historic numbers.

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.

Columba Surface Sampling Results (Conducted by Kootenay)

The Agreement

Under the terms of the Agreement, the Company can acquire a 100% ownership in the concessions by making staged payments over a 4-year period totaling US$3,290,000. Payments are weighted to the back-end of the agreement with an initial payment of US$15,000 and first and second years payments totalling US$75,000 and US$150,000 respectively. The Agreement includes a work commitment of US$250,000 by the first anniversary and US$750,000 by the second anniversary of the Agreement. Upon earn-in the vendors retain a 2% n.s.r. of which 1% can be purchased by the Company for US$750,000.

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 Chihuahua City, Mexico. 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 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.