North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

To follow up on the success of its 2022 exploration at Kitsault Valley, Dolly Varden Silver Corp. is mobilizing five rigs to complete up to 45,000 meters of resource expansion and exploration drilling across this precious metals-rich project in Northern British Columbia.

Located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Stewart, BC, the 63-square-mile (163 square kilometers) Kitsault Valley project is an amalgamation of Dolly Varden's namesake project and the adjacent Homestake Ridge gold-silver project the company acquired from Fury Gold Mines Ltd.

Four deposits associated with past producing mines at Dolly Varden– Torbrit, Dolly Varden, Wolf, and North Star – host 3.42 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 299.8 grams per metric ton (32.93 million oz) silver; plus 1.29 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 277 g/t (11.45 million oz) silver.

About 5.5 kilometers (3.5 miles) northwest of the Dolly Varden deposits, three deposits at Homestake Ridge host 736,000 metric tons of indicated resource averaging 7.02 g/t (165,993 oz) gold and 74.8 g/t (1.8 million oz) silver; plus 5.55 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 4.58 g/t (816,719 oz) gold and 100 g/t (17.8 million oz) silver.

The 37,061-meter drill program completed by Dolly Varden last year at Kitsault Valley cut high-grade silver in expansion areas of the Wolf deposit on the Dolly Varden side of the Kitsault Valley project, as well as high-grade gold and silver at Homestake Ridge.

"2022 was a breakthrough exploration season at Dolly Varden Silver's Kitsault Valley project," said Dolly Varden Silver President and CEO Shawn Khunkhun. "We are continuing our successful strategy of expanding current resources, while also testing new exploration targets for discovery. The company has over $26 million in the treasury, positioning our exploration team with a tremendous opportunity to create value with the drill bit."

Expanding Wolf silver deposit

Wolf, the second largest deposit on the Dolly Varden end of the Kitsault Valley project, will be a primary target for 2023 resource expansion drilling.

According to the most recent calculation, Wolf hosts 402,000 metric tons of indicated resource averaging 296.8 g/t (3.8 million oz) silver; plus 9,500 metric tons of inferred resource averaging 230.6 g/t (70,000 oz) silver.

The 2022 drilling at this northernmost Dolly Varden deposit, however, has begun to outline what appears to be a much larger resource.

This expansion potential is highlighted by two holes drilled 825 meters apart in expansion areas at opposite ends of the current deposit.

Hole DV22-329, the furthest northeast hole drilled at Wolf, cut 15.94 meters (8.77 meters estimated true-width) averaging 1,499 g/t silver, 0.46% zinc, and 1.89% lead.

Hole DV22-300, the furthest southwest hole drilled at Wolf, cut 19.85 meters (13.9 meters estimated true-width) averaging 584 g/t silver, 0.56% zinc, 0.92% lead, and 0.19 g/t gold. A 1.6-meter (1.12 meters true-width) bonanza-grade subsection of this intercept averaged 4,326 g/t silver, 1.36% zinc, 4.21% lead, and 1 g/t gold.

This higher-grade silver mineralization at Wolf is trending toward Kitsol Vein, a northwest extension of the Torbrit deposit about 1,400 meters to the southeast.

A connection between Wolf and Torbrit is further indicated by DV22-323, a northwest step-out hole at Kitsol Vein that cut 15 meters (9.6 meters true-width) averaging 301 g/t silver, 0.23 % lead, and 0.56% zinc.

"Our priority during 2023 will be to connect the Wolf Deposit with the Kitsol Deposit, located 1,400 meters to the south," Khunkhun said earlier this year.

Tracing Homestake gold

The company will also continue to test resource expansion targets at Homestake Ridge, which hosts 816,719 oz of gold, 17.8 million oz of silver, 15.9 million pounds of copper, and 17.3 million lb of lead in three deposits – Homestake Main, Homestake Silver and South Reef.

During its inaugural program at Homestake, Dolly Varden completed 18,448 meters of drilling in 56 holes – 41 at Homestake Main, 12 at Homestake Silver, and three exploration holes.

Highlights from 2022 drilling at Homestake Main include:

• 22.5 meters averaging 4.32 g/t gold and 76 g/t silver in hole HR22-324.

• 9.16 meters averaging 27.44 g/t gold and 463 g/t silver in hole HR22-328.

• 15 meters averaging 5.68 g/t gold and 147 g/t silver in hole HR22-330.

• 25 meters averaging 46.31 g/t gold, 0.7 g/t silver, and 0.19% copper in hole HR22-333.

• 29.54 meters averaging 8.73 g/t gold and 12 g/t silver in hole HR22-345.

The planned 2023 drilling at Homestake will target extensions of higher grade and wider zones of gold mineralization similar to what was encountered in hole HR22-333.

Highlights from 2022 drilling at Homestake Silver include:

• 1.2 meters averaging 2,500 g/t silver, 15.04 g/t gold, and 0.17% copper in hole HR22-361.

• 2.5 meters averaging 1,252 g/t silver, 0.81 g/t gold, and 0.14% copper in hole HR22-362.

• 2.7 meters averaging 469 g/t silver in hole HR22-365.

These more silver-dominant intercepts in the southernmost Homestake deposit are reminiscent of the mineralization encountered at Wolf and Torbrit, the two northernmost deposits on the Dolly Varden end of the consolidated Kitsault Valley project.

Exploring in between

In addition to resource expansion drilling at Wolf and Homestake Ridge, Dolly Varden plans to carry out drilling along the 5.4-kilometer (3.4 miles) trend that lies between them.

One of the targets of this exploration will be Moose Vein, a historical prospect about 1,500 meters north of Wolf with an exploration adit that dates back to the 1920s.

Dolly Varden Silver Corp.

The east-west trending Moose Vein hosts silver grades and mineralization styles similar to areas of the Wolf vein. This year's drilling at Moose will test depth extent and projected extensions of the vein under the sediments that cover the middle of the valley.

Several other blind targets that lie under this mid-valley sediment cap along the 5.4-kilometer trend between Wolf and Homestake will be better defined with an induced polarization geophysical survey followed by planned drilling.

Additional exploration targets will include parallel structural zones to the west of the Homestake Main trend.

"With the wide, high-grade silver intercepts in significant step-out holes from the Wolf and Homestake Silver deposits, coupled with the highest-grade gold intercepts drilled in all of the Golden Triangle in 2022 from the Homestake Main deposit, we eagerly await the start of this season's drilling," said Khunkhun.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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