Dolly Varden Silver logs high-grade hits at Homestake in BC as 2024 drilling wraps up

The final holes in Dolly Varden Silver’s (TSXV: DV; US-OTC: DOLLF) 2024 drill program at its Kitsault Valley project in northwest British Columbia returned high-grade results as it works towards a future resource update and preliminary economic assessment.

Highlight hole HR24-432, targeting the plunge of a wide zone in the Homestake deposit, returned 48.2 metres grading 8.85 grams gold per tonne and 5 grams silver from 313.8 metres depth. The hole cut a breccia vein over 13.9 metres at 29.24 grams gold and 16 grams silver, and 0.5 metres of another breccia vein grading 701 grams gold and 184 grams silver. 

HR24-435 returned 100.8 metres at 4.64 grams gold and 38 grams silver from 287.5 metres depth, 34.9 metres grading 12.23 grams gold and 84 grams silver, and 1 metre at 166 grams gold and 675 grams silver.

“The identification of a gold-rich, wide and high-grade area within the Homestake Silver Deposit is highly encouraging,” Shawn Khunkhun, Dolly Varden Silver CEO said in a release on Monday. “Our geological team is encouraged by overlapping mineralizing phases of silver and gold rich veins and breccias; the deposit remains open for expansion.”

This year’s drill program at Kitsault Valley comprised 69 holes for a total of 31,726 metres, with 41 holes totalling 15,546 metres drilled in the Dolly Varden area and 28 holes totaling 16,181 metres at Homestake Ridge.

Riding precious metals wave

Silver, at US$32.64 per oz. on Monday touched highs last seen 11 years ago, with gold, at US$2,741 per oz. just below its historic high of US$2,790 from last week.

Shares in Dolly Varden gained 2.3% to $1.29 apiece on Monday morning in Toronto, giving the company a market capitalization of about $389.9 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of 62¢ to $1.46.

The company, in which Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) holds a 15% stake, also plans a future resource update for Kitsault Valley as well as its first preliminary economic assessment.

Mineralization in the Homestake Ridge deposits is made up of pyrite, galena and sphalerite with visible gold in a breccia matrix within a silica breccia vein system, the company says.

A third noteworthy hole, HR24-442 returned about 10 metres grading 4.58 grams gold from 660.7 metres depth, including 14.96 grams gold over 1.7 metres.

This year’s drill program at Kitsault Valley comprised 69 holes for a total of 31,726 metres, with 41 holes totaling 15,546 metres drilled in the Dolly Varden area and 28 holes totaling 16,181 metres at Homestake Ridge. Kitsault Valley, combining the Dolly Varden and Homestake Ridge projects, hosts an indicated resource of 3.4 million tonnes at 299.8 grams silver per tonne for 32.9 million oz. silver, and 1.2 million inferred tonnes grading 277 grams silver for 11.4 million oz. at Dolly Varden, according to a report from 2022.

Homestake Ridge holds 736,000 indicated tonnes at 74.8 grams silver for 1.8 million oz. silver, and 7.02 grams gold for 165,993 oz. gold; and 5.5 million inferred tonnes at 100 grams silver for 17.8 million oz. silver, and 4.58 grams gold for 816,719 oz. gold.