Southern Silver Closes Final Tranche of Private Placement and Updates Oro, Dragoon Projects

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/13/10 -- Southern Silver Exploration Corp. ('Southern Silver') (TSX VENTURE: SSV)(FRANKFURT: SEG) has closed the final tranche of its previously announced non-brokered unit private placement by issuing 4,499,000 units at a price of $0.10 per unit for gross proceeds of $449,900. Each unit consists of one common share and one share purchase warrant, with each warrant exercisable to purchase one additional common share at a price of $0.20 per share for a period of two years.

Finders' fees are payable. The private placement and finders' fees are subject to regulatory approval. All securities issued pursuant to the private placement, including common shares, share purchase warrants and finders' warrants issued as finders' fees, carry a legend restricting trading of the securities until April 11, 2011.

Southern Silver issued 9,900,000 units on October 27, 2010 and 10,601,000 units on November 26, 2010, which together with the final tranche raised total gross proceeds of $2,500,000.

Proceeds from the private placement will be utilized to fund exploration projects on the Oro, Cerro Las Minitas and San Luis properties as well as for working capital.

Southern Silver also reports that it has granted incentive stock options to directors, officers, consultants and employees, to purchase 400,000 common shares at $0.17 per share exercisable for a period of five years in accordance with Southern Silver's stock option plan. The options are subject to acceptance for filing by the TSX Venture Exchange.

Project Update - Oro, New Mexico

Southern Silver also reports that it has completed a 455 line-kilometer airborne magnetic survey over its 1,127 hectare Oro project in southern New Mexico. Southern Silver's recent consolidation of the property through a New Mexico State land auction, as announced September 1, 2010, now allows methodical testing of priority exploration targets that has historically been hampered by fragmented land holdings in the district.

Preliminary examination of the airborne results show good correlation between magnetic features and high-grade vein exposures, extending the projection of those veins into areas of gravel cover that have not been historically explored or developed as a result of the lack of exposure. Several circular magnetic features are revealed in the survey which correlate with scattered exposures of altered intrusions and are consistent with a deeply buried porphyry copper target. Detailed evaluation of the aeromagnetic data is now underway that will determine whether IP geophysics could further assist in drill targeting.

The Oro property occurs within the north-most extension of the Faja de Plata, a broad metal-rich corridor of highly prospective mineral deposits extending through much of north-central Mexico, which hosts major Carbonate Replacement Deposits (CRDs) such as Santa Eulalia (45Mt of 310g/t silver, 7.1% zinc and 8.2% lead) and Skarn deposits in the Bismark District (8Mt of 8% zinc, 0.5% lead, 0.2% copper, and 50 g/t silver).

The New Mexico Bureau of Mines estimates production from the Oro (Eureka) district between 1880 and 1961 at 2.9 million pounds of lead, 1.7 million pounds of zinc, 0.5 million pounds of copper, 450,000 ounces of silver, and 5,000 ounces of gold mined from shallow workings above the water table. Reported grades are attractive, in the range of 20 oz/ton silver, 4% combined zinc and lead, and up to 0.04 oz/ton gold. Smaller amounts of high-grade mineralization are reported to assay up to 5.5% copper and 840 oz/ton silver. (Historical information not independently verified by Southern Silver.)

Previous exploration on the property by Southern Silver includes geological mapping, surface sampling and a five-hole, 1,645 meter core drilling program completed early in 2010. This most recent work suggests that in addition to a high potential to host further gold- and silver-enriched CRD deposits, further exploration on the Oro project may also target bulk-tonnage intrusion-related gold mineralization or possibly a deeply buried copper porphyry system. The current magnetic survey will be modeled within the context of these deposit-types and other geological evidence to refine drill targeting. The company will begin permitting drill sites in preparation for a drilling program during 2011.

Project Update - Dragoon, Arizona

The company reports that the permitting process remains in progress for planned follow-up drilling by Southern Silver Exploration Corp.'s Optionor, Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corp on the Dragoon project located 90 kilometers southeast of Tucson, Arizona. The program follows geophysical work and an earlier 1,065 meter drill hole, reported August 13, 2010, which returned anomalous copper mineralization of up to 497 parts per million over 402 meters including several three-to-six-meter intervals averaging from 0.1 to 0.5 per cent copper.

Rob Macdonald, (P.Geo.), is the Qualified Person responsible for reviewing the technical data for the Dragoon project; Elliott Crist (P.Geo) is the Qualified Person responsible for reviewing the technical data of the Oro project.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Lawrence Page, President, Southern Silver Exploration Corp.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. These statements are based on a number of assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions regarding general economic conditions, interest rates, commodity markets, regulatory and governmental approvals for the company's projects, and the availability of financing for the company's development projects on reasonable terms. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Southern Silver Exploration Corp. does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Southern Silver Exploration Corp.

Liana Shahinian

1-888-456-1112 / 604-641-2773
liana@mnxltd.com
www.southernsilverexploration.com