Dolly Varden Silver reports Homestake drill results, British Columbia
Dolly Varden Silver Corp. [TSXV-DV; OTC-DOLLF] reported exceptional drill results from its 2023 program at the Homestake Silver deposit in northwest British Columbia’s Golden Triangle, including an intersection of 357 g/t silver equivalent, the length of a city block (93.95 metres).
DV Silver is also developing its 100% held Kitsault Valley Project located in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia, 25 k by road to tide water. It also has a new consolidated copper-gold porphyry project in the Golden Triangle, similar to other deposits in the region (Red Mountain, KSM, Red Chris).
“We acquired Homestake at the beginning of 2022, and it doubled the size of our project,” Rob Van Egmond, V.P. DV Silver. “It had about million ounces of gold, mainly in the inferred category, and about 18 million ounces of silver all in the inferred category.”
“Homestake is split between three deposits,” Egmond continued. “The main two are Homestake Main and Homestake Silver. The first year we did infill drilling at Homestake Main to make sure the continuity and grade lined up with the stated resource. That was successful. The infill holes had higher grades than the resource.”
“We are drilling both Homestake deposits with ‘oriented core’, which gives us the structural measurement of the vein, how it sits in real space. We are using that to develop a model.”
The 23 drillholes reported total 12,150 metres of drilling targeting priority zones within the deposit and have significantly expanded the width and extent of the reinterpreted high-grade silver and gold mineralized plunge.
Highlights from Homestake Silver (intervals shown are core length):
HR23-419: Mineralized envelope returned 315 g/t AgEq (2.57 g/t Au and 102 g/t Ag) over 79.20 metres. HR23-416 Mineralized envelope returned 357 g/t AgEq (1.74 g/t Au, 213 g/t Ag) over 93.95 metres.
HR23-415: Mineralized envelope returned 630 g/t AgEq (5.11 g/t Au and 206 g/t Ag) over 22.80 metres. HR23-413: Mineralized envelope returned 226 g/t AgEq (1.40 g/t Au and 110 g/t Ag) over 40.00 metres.
HR23-407: Mineralized envelope returned 246 g/t AgEq (2.32 g/t Au and 54 g/t Ag) over 55.90 metres. HR23-411: Expansion step out hole to the southeast returned 445 g/t AgEq (0.91 g/t Au and 369 g/t Ag) over 10.55 metres.
Estimated true widths vary depending on intersection angles and range from 65% to 85% of core lengths.
“The 2023 drilling at Homestake Silver has identified a substantial zone of exceptional precious metal grades, often typified by multiple phases of silver and gold mineralization, over wide, continuous intervals that are potentially amendable to bulk underground mining methods,” stated Shawn Khunkhun, CEO of Dolly Varden Silver.
Bulk mining generally has lower mining costs associated with it, allowing for a lower cut-off grade bringing in more material, increasing the tonnage per day and number of ounces mined.
“Some of these old, narrow vein deposits don’t work in the modern era,” Khunkhun told Guy Bennett, the CEO of GSN. “You don’t want to be chasing narrow veins, hand sorting material. Our goal is that Dolly Varden Silver will create an efficient, highly mechanized mine with a low All-In-Sustaining-Cost (AISC).
Drilling targeted the high-grade plunge within the Homestake Silver deposit. These holes focused on defining and expanding the wide gold and silver (+/- lead and zinc) mineralized zone.
On November 2, 2023 Dolly Varden Silver announced that it has closed a deal where Hecla Canada invested $10 million in DV Silver, raising its stake in DV Silver from 10.6% to 15.7%.
“The latest results from Homestake Silver, including 93 metres at 357 g/t AgEq, indicate that the mineralized envelope is wider and higher grade than we had thought,” Van Egmond told Bennett.
“The drill comes in at angle, so the true width is about 50-60 metres,” Egmond continued. “This suggests a deposit that is amenable to bulk underground mining, which would bring the cut-off grade down, add more tonnes, and lower mining costs.”