Dolly Varden Silver Corporation (TSXV: DV) (OTC: DOLLF) (the “Company” or “Dolly Varden“) is pleased to announce plans for the 2024 exploration drilling program at its 100% owned Kitsault Valley Project. An initial 25,000 meters of diamond drilling is planned, starting with three drills. 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 a low snowpacks.
The drill program will be split approximately 50/50 between the Dolly Varden Property and the Homestake Ridge Property, with an overall project split of 1/3 to Homestake Silver deposit area, 1/3 to Wolf deposit area and 1/3 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. Further south, silver mineralization at Wolf remains wide open for expansion and this seasons’ introduction of directional drilling technology will allow for highly accurate placement of drill intercepts,” said Shawn Khunkhun, CEO of Dolly Varden Silver.
Wolf Vein
At the Wolf Vein, drilling is planned to delineate the width and extent of the southerly plunge of wider and higher-grade silver mineralization. Step out holes that define the trace of the plunge are spaced so that any new mineralization can be included in a future resource update. The Company will implement directional drilling technology with the objective of more cost effective and accurate exploration at Wolf, particularly for deep holes.
Wolf Vein remains open to depth where results from 2023 drilling indicate an increase in base metal (lead and zinc) content as well as wider epithermal breccia vein silver mineralization, such as previous released step-out drill hole DV23-375, that intersected 296 g/t silver, 1.68% Pb and 3.01%Zn (461 g/t AgEq*) over 26.99 meters, including 1,475g/t Ag, 10.65% Pb and 12% Zn (2,260 g/t AgEq*) over 0.50 meter from an 81-metre step-out (from previous release: November 6, 2023).
Figure 2. Previously released result highlights (2022 and 2023) on Wolf Vein long section looking northwest showing open zones for follow up and trace of wider, higher-grade plunge as black line.
*AuEq and AgEq are calculated using two precious metal components at $US1650/oz Au, $US20/oz Ag, $US0.90/lb Pb and $US1.10/lb Zn. Assays are not capped and 100% recovery used for Ag and Au and base metals.
**Estimated true widths vary depending on intersection angles and range from 50% to 85% of core lengths, further modelling of the new interpretation is needed before true widths can be calculated.