Silver-Gold Co. Announces Drilling Plans for Massive BC Project

Dolly Varden Silver Corp. (DV:TSX.V; DOLLF:OTCQX) has announced its plans for its 2024 drilling program at its 100%-owned Kitsault Valley project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.

An initial 25,000 meters of diamond drilling is planned, starting with three drill rigs, and will focus on new discoveries and stepping out from high-grade intercepts from last year's drilling.

The program will be split about 50/50 between the Dolly Varden and Homestake Ridge properties (which together make up the Kitsault Valley project) and is set to start in May, the company said.

The drilling will also be split by thirds overall between the Homestake Silver deposit area, the Wolf deposit, and project-wide exploration for new discovery targets.

"Our drill results from Homestake Silver were among the highest-grade gold and silver intercepts anywhere in the Golden Triangle in 2023," said Chief Executive Officer Shawn Khunkhun. "Our priority with this early start is to continue with stepouts as well as infill drilling to confirm continuity of the potentially bulk-minable mineralization."

Khunkhun said silver mineralization at the Wolf deposit remains open for expansion.

"This season's introduction of directional drilling technology will allow for highly accurate placement of drill intercepts," he said.

Jeff Clark of thegoldadvisor.com noted on Tuesday that "the stock is up in the U.S. as I write, flat in Canada, with silver trying for an up day."

"Dolly Varden is a core silver holding for us," Clark wrote, who said there is room for the resource to continue to grow. "And we have a dedicated CEO who's . . .  focused on both growing it and eventually selling it for a nice premium for us shareholders."

The Catalysts: Stepout Holes, Resource Expansion, New Exploration Targets

Dolly Varden said in a release that at the Wolf vein, which remains open to depth, drilling will delineate the width and extent of the southerly plunge of wider and higher-grade silver mineralization.

A previously released stepout drill hole at the vein, DV23-375, intersected 296 grams per tonne silver (g/t Ag), 1.68% lead (Pb), and 3.01% zinc (Zn), including 461 g/t Ag Eq (silver equivalent), over 26.99 meters, including 1,475 g/t Ag, 10.65% Pb and 12% Zn (2,260 g/t Ag Eq) over 0.50 meters.

"Dolly Varden is a core silver holding for us," Jeff Clark of thegoldadvisor.com wrote, who said there is room for the resource to continue to grow.

At Homestake Silver, the company will start with follow-up drilling on the newly discovered gold zone where coarse-grained native gold in late-stage quartz-carbonate veins returned grades of 1,335 g/t Au (gold) and 781 g/t Ag over 0.68 meters within a wider interval of stockwork grading 79.49 g/t Au and 60 g/t Ag over 12.45 meters in drill hole HR23-389.

"The second part of Homestake Silver drilling will be resource expansion and upgrade holes that target the low-angle, north-dipping plunge of wide and high-grade gold and silver mineralization encountered in 2023," the company said.

The mineralized plunge orientation at Homestake Silver was initially recognized in 2023. Drill hole HR23-416 intercepted the newly defined mineralized envelope and returned a 93.95-meter-wide zone grading 1.74 g/t Au and 213 g/t Ag (357 g/t Ag Eq), which included several distinct breccia vein intervals grading 11.80 g/t Au and 1,824 g/t Ag (2,802 g/t Ag Eq) over 9.16 meters, 13.16 g/t Au and 3,085 g/t Ag (4,176 g/t Ag Eq) over 2.26 meters, and 55.40 g/t Au and 4,830 g/t Ag (9,422 g/t Ag Eq) over 1.02 meters.

Both Bob Moriarty of 321gold.com and the Golden Opportunities newsletter are among the experts who like Dolly Varden Silver.

The company's exploration targets for 2024 include the Moose vein, which is about 1.5 kilometers north of the Wolf vein and is interpreted to be hosted within a similar cross-cutting structure as Wolf.

In 2023, drill hole DV23-371 intercepted veining and mineralization there, similar to that seen at Wolf that graded 712 g/t Ag over 1 meter within a 7.55-meter-length interval averaging 269 g/t Ag.

"Other exploration targets on both the Homestake Ridge and Dolly Varden properties include targets within the 5.4 km long area between the southern end of Homestake Silver and Wolf vein, under the mid-valley sedimentary cap rocks," Dolly Varden said. "Additionally, geophysical targets west of the Homestake Main deposit will be tested within a parallel basin bounding structures similar to those hosting the Homestake Main and Homestake Silver deposits."

The company also plans to complete studies on road access, advanced metallurgy, wildlife, baseline environmental monitoring, and field mapping of unexplored areas.

'Exciting, Discovery-Driven Growth'

Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, the current resource of the various target areas comprising Dolly Varden is 32.9 Moz of 300 g/t Ag in the indicated category and 11.4 Moz Ag in the Inferred category. For Homestake Ridge, the current Indicated resource is 1.8 Moz Ag and 166,000 ounces (166 Koz) gold, and the Inferred resource is 17.4 Moz silver and 817 Koz gold. Combined, the total Kitsault Valley resource is almost 65 Moz of silver and nearly 1 Moz of gold.

Both Bob Moriarty of 321gold.com and the Golden Opportunities newsletter are among the experts who like Dolly Varden Silver.

Golden Opportunities stated that the company offers investors "a big silver-equivalent resource in British Columbia's Golden Triangle to leverage rising silver prices and exciting, discovery-driven growth."

Further, the newsletter explained that silver provides very significant leverage to gold's gains, and junior silver companies generally provide even more leverage.

"By getting into premier silver plays at current low levels, one could stack leverage on top of leverage," it wrote. 

"The soaring prices for junior silver companies in the last big move in 2020 demonstrated how powerful this dynamic can be. This is why investors are salivating over the potential with Dolly Varden right now."

The silver-gold company has a Buy rating from Raymond James analyst Craig Stanley.

Ownership and Share Structure

According to Dolly Varden, 48% of the company is held by institutional investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Sprott Asset Management LP, U.S. Global Investors Inc., Delbrook, and Extract Capital. 

44% is with strategic investors. 19% is with Fury Gold Mines. 15% is with Hecla, and Eric Sprott owns 10% himself. 

The rest, 8%, is with retail and high-net-worth investors.

The company has 283 outstanding shares.

Its market cap is CA$253.86 million, and its 52-week trading range is CA$0.58–1.15 per share.

Important Disclosures:

1. Dolly Varden Silver Corp. is a billboard sponsor of Streetwise Reports and pays SWR a monthly sponsorship fee between US$4,000 and US$5,000.
2. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Dolly Varden Silver Corp.
3. Steve Sobek wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee.
4.  This article does not constitute investment advice and is not a solicitation for any investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her personal financial adviser and perform their own comprehensive investment research. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company. 

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