Dolly Varden Silver Corporation Announces $15,000,000 Private Placement

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Feb. 12, 2013) -

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Dolly Varden Silver Corp. (TSX VENTURE:DV)(OTCBB:DOLLF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it will proceed with a non-brokered private placement of up to 83,333,333 common shares at a price of $0.18 per common share for total proceeds of up to $15,000,000 (the "Offering"). The Offering is anticipated to be completed in multiple closings.

All securities issued in the Offering will be subject to a statutory four month hold period. Closing of the Offering is subject to a number of conditions, including the receipt of all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange").

USE OF PROCEEDS

The Net Proceeds of the Offering will be used for general Working Capital and for Work Programs on the Company's Dolly Varden Project, British Columbia. Depending on the results of the Company's financing activities, work will progress with a first priority of establishing year-round access to the known silver deposits of the Upper Kitsault valley, followed by staged underground development and testing work. Available Net Proceeds of $12 million for field exploration will permit a full program. Lesser funding will result in reduced diamond drilling.

The following 2013 program is planned, provisionally, to further the following exploration and development objectives:

Mine Access Road: Repair work remaining after the 2012 field season will be completed on the Mine Access Road during late Winter 2013. Access roads are in general good repair except for the last 9 km of road leading to the Torbrit and Wolf Mines. Repair and/or replacement of bridge spans at three locations are planned, followed in Spring 2013 by the installation of modern infrastructure and underground services at the Torbrit and Wolf Mines.

Establishment of Year Round Operations: In 2013, the Company plans to shift to a year-round work program of rehabilitation and underground drifting, in two stages: Initially, to access existing underground workings for sampling, and in a second stage, limited amounts of underground drifting will be conducted to access locations for diamond drilling and bulk sampling.

Exploration Targeting: Continuation of 3D geophysical and geological modeling on our recently completed Geotech ZTEM and magnetic airborne geophysical surveys. Preliminary results are showing good correlation with the known deposit and property geology. Results will be used to complete exploration layouts for the 2013 season.

Silver Exploration and Definition Diamond Drilling: Exploration is planned with a focus on bulk sampling, definition diamond drilling and step-out diamond drilling to rapidly confirm and, success contingent, expand three silver deposits with historic mineral resource estimates, as a follow-up to promising confirmations in 2011 and 2012. A total of 8,000 meters of surface and underground drilling is planned in two stages at the Dolly Varden, Wolf and Torbrit Mines.

Gold-Silver Exploration on Red Point Zone & other zones on the Properties: An extensive program of geological mapping and geochemical sampling will be engaged, to follow-up on the results of the integration of the geophysical, geological and geochemical results from the 2011 and 2012 seasons. 8,000 meters of drilling at the Red Point and other Gold Belt/Surprise targets to follow-up on 1989-90 results that strongly indicate a viable Eskay Creek-type gold-, silver-rich high sulphidation VMS deposit target.

CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE

Mr. John King Burns, Chairman of the Company, states that:

"We are kicking off this funding around an order for 20,000,000 shares or (CAD $3,600,000). In addition, Hecla Mining Corp has agreed to top up its share position to maintain its 19.9% ownership position providing us with additional funds. These committed funds will allow us to start up our 2013 field work program defined in the working steps above in March/April of 2013. With these committed and the additional targeted funds in hand, we will have a real shot at significantly de-risking our targets and creating significant value for our shareholders. 2013 will be a very exciting year for the Company.

We will use the already committed funds to establish our sustaining infrastructure and mine rehabilitation as well as to support exploration work in and around the Torbrit mine. More economical year round operations will become possible with reliable all-season road access to the central areas of our Property. We will continue to raise funds up to CAD $15,000,000 until we can complete full complements of the recommended diamond drilling and surface exploration.

Especially promising will be the underground exploration, drilling and sampling for high grade silver at Torbrit. Most exciting will be the surface exploration work planned for 2013 that includes targeting the Red Point zone, where extensive, strongly altered and highly anomalous gold-silver outcroppings of rock may be the exposure of a footwall stockwork feeder zone for an associated precious metal-rich VMS deposit located higher in the volcanic stratigraphy. We have preeminent geological advisors, a senior and very experienced management team, and the best possible technical team that we could assemble in place to design and complete the 2013 work program."

ABOUT DOLLY VARDEN SILVER CORPORATION

Dolly Varden Silver Corporation controls a total 9,374 hectares of mineral tenures and surface rights (the "Property") in the Upper Kitsault Valley, located 40 kilometers southeast of Stewart B.C. The Company's common shares are listed and traded on the TSX-V under the symbol DV and traded in the U.S. on the pink sheet over the counter market under the symbol DOLLF. A NI 43-101 compliant technical report on the Property is filed on SEDAR and provides additional detail on the geologic potential of the Property.

The Property covers an historic mining area which has reported production of 20 million ounces of high-grade silver from two deposits, the Dolly Varden and Torbrit mines. Two other silver deposits, the North Star and Wolf have been outlined by diamond drilling and underground development, but have not yet seen production. All four deposits have remaining historic silver mineral resources and are situated in the same geologic setting as the past-producing Eskay Creek deposit, located to the northwest of the Property.

The Company has two strategies for creating value, success contingent, at the Dolly Varden silver project:

1. Confirm and expand the existing historic silver mineral resources with the goal to a re-start of silver mining; and,
2. Explore a major untested Eskay Creek-type gold and silver rich VMS target on the Property.

Paul McGuigan, P. Geo., Vice President of Exploration, has acted as the Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 for this disclosure and has approved the technical information contained in this release.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT:

Certain of the statements and information in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" any statements or information that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "estimates", "intends", "targets", "goals", "forecasts", "objectives", "potential" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements or information. Forward looking statements or information relate to, among other things the Company's business objectives and exploration plans set out under the headings "Use of Proceeds" and "Chairman's Message."

Forward-looking statements or information are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements or information, including, without limitation, the need for additional capital by the Company through financings, and the risk that such funds may not be raised; the speculative nature of exploration and the stages of the Company's properties; the effect of changes in commodity prices; regulatory risks that development of the Company's material properties will not be acceptable for social, environmental or other reasons, availability of equipment (including drills) and personnel to carry out work programs, that each stage of work will be completed within expected time frames, that current geological models and interpretations prove correct, the results of ongoing work programs may lead to a change of exploration priorities, and the efforts and abilities of the senior management team. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements or information. These and other factors may cause the Company to change its exploration and work programs, not proceed with work programs, or change the timing or order of planned work programs. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

The Company's forward-looking statements and information are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management as of the date of this press release, and other than as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements and information if circumstances or management's assumptions, beliefs, expectations or opinions should change, or changes in any other events affecting such statements or information. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information or on the Company's plans for exploration, work program permitting or road and underground facilities construction or repair.