Dolly Varden outlines Golden Triangle drilling plan
Dolly Varden Silver Corp. [DV-TSXV, DOLLF-OTCBB] has announced plans for a 2024 resource expansion and discovery-focused exploration program at its Kitsault Valley project in northwestern British Columbia.
The company said an initial 25,000 metres of diamond drilling is planned, starting with three drills. It said the focus will be on following up on new discoveries as well as stepping out from wide, higher-grade intercepts from the 2023 drilling, particularly at the Homestake Silver and Wolf deposits. Mobilization will be in the first week of May, allowing for an earlier start on exploration than previous years due to the low snow packs.
The announcement comes after Dolly Varden recently announced a $15 million bought deal public offering, with participation by resource financier Eric Sprott. Other key shareholders include Hecla Canada Ltd. (a unit of U.S. precious metals giant Hecla Mining [HL-NYSE]) and Fury Gold Mines Ltd. [FURY-TSX, NYSE American], Fury holds a 22% stake in Dolly Varden, while Hecla has a 15% stake in the company, which counts Sprott as a shareholder with a 9.0% interest.
Dolly Varden is focused on advancing the wholly-owned Kitsault Valley Project, which covers 163 square kilometres in the Golden Triangle region and hosts the high-grade silver and gold resources of Dolly Varden and Homestake Ridge along with the past producing Dolly Varden and Torbit silver mines.
The entire property is considered to be highly prospective for hosting high-grade precious metal deposits since it comprises the same structural and stratigraphic setting that hosts numerous other on-trend, high-grade deposits, including Eskay Creek and Brucejack.
The property is also considered to be an advanced exploration stage property with targets that are well understood. However, the company has said mine restarts will require the discovery of additional silver resources and the confirmation of historic resources that were known at the cessation of mining in 1959.
The upcoming drill program will be split approximately 50/50 between the Dolly Varden property and the Homestake Ridge property, with an overall project split of one third to the Homestake deposit area, one third to the Wolf deposit area and one third to project wide exploration targets with new discovery potential.
“Our drill results from Homestake Silver were among the highest-grade gold and silver intercepts anywhere in the Golden Triangle in 2023; our priority with this early start is to continue with step-outs as well as infill drilling to confirm continuity of the potentially bulk-mineable mineralization,’’ said Dolly Varden Silver CEO Shawn Khunkhun.
“Further south, silver mineralization at Wolf remains wide open for expansion and this season’s introduction of directional drilling technology will allow for highly accurate placement of drill intercepts,’’ he said.
Dolly Varden shares were unchanged at 96 cents on Tuesday. The shares currently trade in a 52-week range of $1.15 and 58 cents.