Dolly Varden drills 4,326 g/t silver over 1.6 metres at Wolf vein, Kitsault Valley, British Columbia
Dolly Varden Silver Corp. [DV-TSXV; DOLLF-OTCQX] reported results from drilling at the Wolf vein, part of the Kitsault Valley Project in the Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia, including step-out hole DV22-300, which returned a significant, high-grade silver intercept. Based on the grade and strength of the mineralizing system, the company has prioritized continued stepout drilling at Wolf during for the remainder of the 2022 season.
DV22-300 encountered a wide interval of multi-phase veins and breccia, intersecting 19.85 metres (13.90m true width) averaging 584 g/t silver, 0.92% lead, 0.56% zinc and 0.19 g/t gold, with bonanza grade silver mineralization grading 4,326 g/t silver, 4.21% lead, 1.36% zinc and 1.00 g/t gold over 1.60 metres (1.12m true width) within a sulphide and silver sulphosalt matrix vein breccia in the main veined interval.
“With an increase in vein intensity and silver grades, the Wolf Vein area is emerging as a large system, rivaling our Torbrit Deposit. With an established plunge length of over 500 metres from the historic underground workings, we are continuing to step out along this trend towards the Kitsol Vein, where we recently announced similar, high-grade mineralization over 1,400 metres away. The increasing gold and base metal content, in addition to the silver, is highly encouraging, as well as the significant widths that are potentially amenable to bulk underground mining techniques,” said Shawn Khunkhun, President and CEO.
The mineralized interval in DV22-300 is a southwesterly step-out along strike and down dip from DV21-273, which returned 17.50 metres averaging 214 g/t silver and 0.47% lead including 1.22 metres averaging 1,532 g/t silver, 0.44 g/t gold, 2.11% lead and 1.07% zinc and projects as a mineralized shoot over 55 metres down plunge from DV21-273. High-grade silver in DV22-300 occurs within a very strong, multiphase vein and breccia system that also includes significant gold and base metal mineralization.
The strength of the mineralizing system, as well as silver and potentially gold appears to be increasing at depth and to the southwest; assays are pending for DV22-316, which encountered strong veining, alteration, brecciation and one occurrence of visible gold over 200 metres away from DV22-300.
The Wolf Vein is a steep dipping, high-grade silver vein deposit that is part of the current Mineral Resource Estimate at Dolly Varden’s Kitsault Valley trend. In 2021, geological modelling of the deposit showed expansion potential along strike to the southwest below the sediment cap that masks surface expression of the vein mineralization and associated alteration. With the discovery that the system continued to the southwest over 8,000 metres of follow up drilling has been completed thus far during the 2022 exploration program. This drilling has defined high-grade silver mineralization to a depth of 500 metres below surface and extended the zone over 350 metres down plunge from historic drilling and over 500 metres from the historic underground workings.
Results have been received for the first six exploration drill holes testing the Wolf Vein extension. All holes were drilled from the same pad with varying azimuths and dips. These drill holes tested below the Upper Hazelton sediment cap and have encountered a robust, multi-phase vein and breccia mineralizing system that remains wide open along strike to the south and down dip.
Drill hole DV22-281- intersected impressive base metal values in addition to silver: 3.75 metres (2.43m true width) averaging 170 g/t silver, 6.25% lead, 14.12% zinc. In drill holes that hit the Wolf vein outside of the interpreted plunge of the high-grade silver zone, significant lead and zinc intervals are present.
Dolly Varden Silver is focused on advancing its 100% held Kitsault Valley Project (which combines the Dolly Varden Project and the Homestake Ridge Project) located in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia, Canada, 25 km by road to tide water. The 163 km2 project hosts the high-grade silver and gold resources of Dolly Varden and Homestake Ridge along with the past-producing Dolly Varden and Torbrit silver mines. The Kitsault Valley Project also contains the Big Bulk property which is prospective for porphyry and skarn style copper and gold mineralization, similar to other such deposits in the region (Red Mountain, KSM, Red Chris).