Solitario Announces Drilling Will Begin on Its Florida Canyon Zinc Project

DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Solitario Zinc Corp. ((“Solitario”) NYSE American: XPL; TSX: SLR)
is pleased to announce that drilling will commence within the next
several days on its Florida Canyon zinc project in northern Peru. Two
core drilling rigs with helicopter support have been mobilized to the
site. The Florida Canyon Project is held in a joint venture between
Solitario (39%) and Nexa Resources (61%) ((“Nexa”) NYSE: NEXA; TSX:
NEXA), the world’s fourth largest zinc miner. All permits required to
begin drilling have been received and a new 39-month community agreement
has been signed. Nexa is the manager of the project.

The program consists of drilling 41 core holes totaling approximately
17,000 meters (56,000 feet) designed to test highly prospective resource
expansion opportunities identified by deposit modeling during
preparation of the 2017 Florida Canyon PEA. Proposed drilling is focused
on significant gaps and offsets within and around the drill pattern
defining the known high-grade zinc-sulfide resource. Drilling is
expected to continue until all 41 core holes are completed, but,
depending on this year’s weather pattern, the rainy season may interrupt
the program. The rainy season generally occurs from December through
March.

Significant progress in interpreting Florida Canyon mineralization was
made in 2018 with the relogging of all previously drilled core totaling
approximately 117,000 meters in 487 core holes. An informative video
found here
describes the conceptual drilling program and the local and
property-wide exploration potential within and surrounding the Florida
Canyon deposit. Drilling will test for extensions of high-grade
zinc-sulfide mineralization in four different areas of the deposit. (Map
link to North Areas) (Map
link to San Jorge).

Chris Herald, President and CEO of Solitario, commented, “This drilling
program is the culmination of an intensive 18-month effort to better
understand the geometry of Florida Canyon mineralization and the
potential scale of the project, which we believe is significantly larger
than is currently defined. The objective of this drilling campaign is to
add significant new resources to the existing Florida Canyon resource
base. Every drill hole is designed to intersect high probability
extensions to known high-grade zinc mineralization. We are excited about
the impact this drilling could have on project economics. We are very
pleased with the cooperation and support that the local communities have
confirmed with the signing of a new long-term community agreement. This
agreement ensures employment opportunities for local residents and
provides for construction of road access to important community centers
and project work areas.”

Mr. Walt Hunt, COO for Solitario Zinc Corp., who is a qualified person
as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed the technical
information contained within this release.

Terms of the Florida Canyon Joint Venture and Funding of the
2018/2019 Drilling Program

Solitario and Nexa have agreed to jointly fund the cost for the
2018/2019 drilling program with Nexa contributing 70% and Solitario
funding 30%. Funding that Solitario contributes towards the drilling
program will be fully credited towards repayment of a construction loan
facility Nexa provides to Solitario for project construction (see below).

Solitario owns a 39% interest and Nexa owns a 61% indirect interest in
the Florida Canyon project. Nexa can earn a 70% interest in the Florida
Canyon project by continuing to fund all project expenditures and
committing to place the project into production based upon a positive
feasibility study. After earning 70%, and at the request of Solitario,
Nexa has further agreed to finance Solitario’s 30% participating
interest for construction through a project loan. Solitario will repay
the loan facility through 50% of its net cash flow distributions from
production.

About Solitario

Solitario is an emerging zinc exploration and development company traded
on the NYSE American (“XPL”) and on the Toronto Stock Exchange (“SLR”).
Besides Solitario’s joint venture with Nexa Resources on its high-grade
Florida Canyon zinc project in Peru, Solitario also holds a 50% joint
venture interest (Teck Resources Ltd. holds the other 50% interest) in
the high-grade, open pitable Lik zinc deposit in Alaska, and 11.0
million shares (7.5% equity interest) of Vendetta Mining. Solitario’s
Management and Directors hold approximately 9.3% (excluding options) of
the Company’s 58.3 million shares outstanding. Solitario’s cash balance
and marketable securities stand at approximately US$12.5 million.
Additional information about Solitario is available online at www.solitariozinc.com
.

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors concerning
estimates of Resources: This news release uses the term
Resources. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have
demonstrated economic viability. The Company advises U.S. investors that
while these terms are recognized and are in part required by Canadian
regulations, the SEC does not recognize the terms. U.S. investors
are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of a Measured,
Indicated or Inferred Mineral Resources will ever be converted into
Reserves. Inferred Resources have a great amount of uncertainty
as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and
legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an
Inferred Mineral Resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category.
Under Canadian rules, estimates of Inferred Mineral Resources may not
form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, except in rare
cases. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that any part
or all of a Measured, Indicated or Inferred resource exists, or is
economically or legally minable.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and the U.S. Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, and as defined in the United States Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (and the equivalent under
Canadian securities laws), that are intended to be covered by the
safe harbor created by such sections. Forward-looking statements are
statements that are not historical fact. They are based on the beliefs,
estimates and opinions of the Company’s management on the date the
statements are made and address activities, events or developments that
Solitario expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, and
are based on current expectations and assumptions. Forward-looking
statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently,
there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be
accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially
from those anticipated in such statements. Such forward-looking
statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the
Company’s expectation of the projected timing and outcome of engineering
studies; expectations regarding the receipt of all necessary permits and
approvals to implement exploration or mining plans, if any; the
potential for confirming, upgrading and expanding zinc, lead and silver
mineralized material; future operating and capital cost estimates may
indicate that the stated resources may not be economic; estimates of
zinc, lead and silver grades of resources provided are predicted and
actual mining grade could be substantially lower; estimates of recovery
rates could be lower than estimated for establishing the cutoff grade;
and other statements that are not historical facts could vary
significantly from assumptions made herein. Although Solitario
management believes that its expectations are based on reasonable
assumptions, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove
correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include,
among others, risks that Solitario’s and its joint venture partners’
exploration and property advancement efforts will not be successful;
risks relating to fluctuations in the price of zinc, lead and silver;
the inherently hazardous nature of mining-related activities;
uncertainties concerning reserve and resource estimates; uncertainties
relating to obtaining approvals and permits from governmental regulatory
authorities and country risks of operations, both inside and outside of
the United States; the possibility that environmental laws and
regulations will change over time and become even more restrictive; and
availability and timing of capital for financing the Company’s
exploration and development activities, including uncertainty of being
able to raise capital on favorable terms or at all; as well as those
factors discussed in Solitario’s filings with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) including Solitario’s latest
Annual Report on Form 10-K and its other SEC filings (and Canadian
filings) including, without limitation, its latest Quarterly Report on
Form 10-Q. The Company does not intend to publicly update any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable
securities laws.

Contacts

Solitario Zinc Corp.
Christopher E. Herald, 303-534-1030, Ext. 14
President
& CEO
or
Debbie Mino-Austin, 800-229-6827
Director –
Investor Relations