03:33 PM EDT, 09/08/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Kootenay Silver ( KOOYF ) was at last look up more than 5% and nearer 52 week highs late Monday afternoon after saying it has employed two drill rigs to advance exploration work at its 100%-owned Columba Silver Project in Chihuahua, Mexico.

As of today's release, it said, five holes totaling approximately 2,500 metres have been completed on the D- and I-Vein targets, with logging and sampling underway. Results are expected in the coming weeks.

This activity marks the first phase of a planned 50,000-metre expansion drill campaign aimed at extending the mineralized envelope defined in the company's maiden NI 43-101 resource estimate.

"We are extremely excited to be drilling again at Columba as we have not found the limits of the large mineralized system underlying the project. The focus of current work is 100% expansion drilling and we aim to significantly build upon the maiden MRE released earlier in the year. The program is fully funded and we look forward to providing regular updates for the next 12 months as we work towards updating the existing MRE and potentially making a decision to initiate work on a PEA," said President and CEO James McDonald.

VP of Exploration Dale Brittliffe added, "It will be exciting to test the extensions of the resource bodies especially along the open ended trends of thickened zones such as seen in holes 110, 125 and 199 in the D-Vein where respective drill length intercepts of 17.8. meters of 650 gpt Ag, 9.7 meters of 1746 gpt Ag and 16.5 meters of 620 gpt Ag were hit."

Shares of the company were last seen up $0.08 to $1.49 on the TSXV.

Price: 1.48, Change: +0.07, Percent Change: +4.61