South American Silver Appoints Phillip Brodie-Hall as Chief Operating Officer

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Nov. 16, 2011) - South American Silver Corp. (TSX:SAC)(PINK SHEETS:SOHAF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Phillip Brodie-Hall as Chief Operating Officer of the company. His principal focus will be to lead the technical teams in advancing the Company's Malku Khota silver-indium-gallium project in Bolivia and Escalones copper-silver-gold project in Chile through the development phases. Mr. Brodie-Hall has been a key member of project development team over the past 2 years on a consulting basis and coordinated the Malku Khota Preliminary Economic Assessment completed earlier in the year. The updated PEA showed robust economics for a bulk-mineable heap leach operation with the potential to be one of the largest new silver, indium and gallium producing mines in development with 13.2 million ounces of silver, 80 tonnes of indium and 15 tonnes of gallium produced annually for the first 5 years of production.

As Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Brodie-Hall will oversee the pre-feasibility level studies currently underway at Malku Khota and the start of engineering studies at Escalones. Mr Brodie-Hall is a professional engineer and manager with over 35 years of experience in engineering, construction and project development in mining and mineral processing. Prior to his new role with South American Silver, he held the position of Vice President, Project Development for PolyMet Mining Corp., overseeing the design and feasibility of their large scale mining asset in Minnesota. Mr. Brodie-Hall also gained extensive experience in the planning, management, engineering and construction of a diverse number of global projects during his 17 years at Bateman Engineering, including as General Manager of the Bateman Group in Australia.

"We are very pleased to have someone with Mr. Brodie-Hall's depth of experience in project development take up the position of Chief Operating Officer, during this period of rapid growth for the company," stated Mr. Greg Johnson, President and CEO of South American Silver Corp. "We welcome Phillip's leadership and vision on a full time basis as he adds to the existing depth in the Company in exploration, metallurgy and operating/process expertise. The building of our highly experienced development teams is key to successfully advancing the Company's two projects and realizing the full potential of these large scale assets. We look forward to reporting on a number of important project development milestones, which we believe will broaden shareholder value in the months ahead."

South American Silver Corp. is a growth focused mineral exploration company creating value through the exploration and development of the 100% owned Malku Khota silver-indium-gallium project in Bolivia, one of the world's largest undeveloped silver-indium-gallium deposits, and the large-scale 100%-controlled Escalones copper-silver-gold project in Chile. The Company's approach to business combines the team's track record of discovery and advancement of large projects, key operational and process expertise, and effective community relations to increase shareholder value. Management has extensive experience in the global exploration and mining industry with much of that focused in Bolivia, Chile, Peru and Argentina. The Company's shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "SAC" and on the US OTC market as "SOHAF". Additional information related to South American Silver Corp. is available at www.soamsilver.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Forward-looking statements

Forward-looking statements look into the future and provide an opinion as to the effect of certain events and trends on the business. Forward-looking statements may include words such as "plans", "intends", "anticipates", "should", "estimates", "expects", "believes", "indicates", "suggests" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and various estimates, factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Information concerning mineral resource estimates and the interpretation of drill results may also be considered as a forward-looking statement; as such information constitutes a prediction of what mineralization might be found to be present if and when a project is actually developed.

It is important to note that:

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements as the Company's actual results, performance or achievements may differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements if known or unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors affect the Company's business, or if the Company's estimates or assumptions prove inaccurate. Therefore, the Company cannot provide any assurance that forward-looking statements will materialize. Factors that could cause results or events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to, possible variations in mineral resources, grade or recovery rates, silver or indium prices, operating or capital costs; availability of sufficient financing to fund planned or further required work in a timely manner and on acceptable terms; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; and political, regulatory, environmental and other risks of the mining industry.

Subject to applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or any other reason. Unless otherwise indicated, forward-looking statements in this release describe the Company's expectations as of November 16, 2011.