Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: General Precious Metals

Dolly Varden Silver (TSX-V: DV)(OTC: DOLLF) CEO Shawn Khunkhun on Expanding, Extending, Growing & Making Discoveries

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president and CEO of Dolly Varden Silver, Mr. Shawn Khunkhun. Shawn, it's great to have you back on. It's been a bit, we know there's a bit of softness in the precious metals space. We know it's the summer doldrums, people are outside as they should be, but the better companies and the better management teams take advantage of quiet times and softness in the market to add value. And anytime you hit 342 grams per tonne silver over 18 meters, which included by the way, 2,270 grams per tonne silver over half a meter, and you have five rigs turning, the market will give you the re-rating eventually. I got to believe it's a heck of an opportunity in the stock right now, and I got to believe you and the team are thrilled with the results.

Shawn Khunkhun: Well, Gerardo, thanks for having me on. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Rick Rule's audience in Boca Raton. We should all be smiling at the valuations right now, there's a tremendous opportunity, I think back to 2016 to 2020 where I think we're in a market right now that's on the verge of turning, and this is the time that wealth is created. So take advantage of these valuations.

Gerardo Del Real: Tell me about the pace of drilling. You started the fifth rig, obviously you're hitting on extensions, you're hitting on all fronts, frankly. Tell me about the approach here.

Shawn Khunkhun: So we started the year and we had planned 42,000 meters, and we thought if everything goes well maybe for the same budget we could do 45,000 meters. So that was the guidance before the drill program started there at the end of May, and we went out and we had a number of target areas. We had some ideas. So what yesterday's results reflect. So we have seven deposits, and the highest grade silver is in a vein called Kitsol, which is part of the Torbrit deposit. Torbrit was Canada's third largest silver mine back in the 1950s, it produced about 19 million ounces. And so what's left intact is about 35 million ounces of silver just at Torbrit. But if you take what's produced and you take what's left, it's a 53 million ounce silver deposit. And so we were looking to expand it and grow it. We've successfully done that over the last number of seasons.

There is a result we put out from 2022, Gerardo, you'd remember it, it was over 50 meters of about 414 grams per tonne. And so this Kitsol vein... And there was other nice step out holes, really good solid 10 to 15 meters of between 300 and 400 grams of silver. So we were growing this Kitsol vein, and what we got excited about was we think there's a relationship between this Kitsol vein and the Wolf deposit. And Wolf is another area we had a ton of success.

So let's get to yesterday's numbers. So what we did is we tried to project where this vein would go to surface, and so we successfully drilled an up dip strike extension. So we've extended the vein strike length, but we're projecting it. So we're hitting it closer to surface. But the other thing we did is we actually also increased the width of the vein so it's more robust. So a couple of key takeaways from the news release beyond the numbers, beyond the 18 meters of 342 grams, beyond the nine and a half meters of 496 grams, the takeaway here is we're increasing the strike length of the vein, we're increasing the width of the vein. It's almost daylighting right at surface.

And then the last takeaway, which I think is a very, very important one, there's a fault that separates the Torbrit deposit and the Wolf deposit, and for the first time in the history of the company, we drilled on the other side of that fault and we tagged into a vein. And so what the goal here is to focus on vectoring into where we can get some grade. The fact that we've got structure and a vein on the other side of the fault is huge, it's a game changer. Now we just need to go in and try to vector in. Now, what's really interesting about all this is things are going so efficient that we're not increasing our spend, we're not increasing our budget, but we think we can actually get an extra 10,000 meters of drilling done. So we think we can take our budget to 55,000 meters of drilling. And in order to accomplish that, we're bringing in a fifth rig. And this is at no additional cost to shareholders. And it's as a result of some really good rock, some really great drillers, and just an efficient program so far this year.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, congrats to you and the team. Look, there's so many companies right now with cost overruns, whether it's on a facility, or on the drills, or on the helicopters, or on the camp, right? There's a million excuses from juniors and producers as to why there's cost overruns. For you to actually be doing things as efficiently as you are, should absolutely be commended, especially in light of the kind of results that you're delivering.

You mentioned in the press release yesterday, the consistent news flow now that you're looking to have, can you speak to that a bit?

Shawn Khunkhun: Yeah, for sure. So yesterday's news represents about, I'd say less than 10% of what we're planning to do this year in terms of drilling. And so the other 90% of the results are yet to come. Some of them are yet to even be drilled. But the point I want to leave your audience with is we are going to put out news every month from now till February, and there's going to be some months where you see multiple drill reports. So there's going to be a lot of news, and I feel very confident that we're going to continue to expand, extend, and grow and make new discoveries.

Gerardo Del Real: Expand, extend, grow, and make new discoveries. I think that's going to be the title of the interview. Shawn, I appreciate your time as always, sir, and looking forward to doing it more often now that you're going to have a consistent news flow over the next several months and quarters. Thank you again for your time.

Shawn Khunkhun: Thanks, Gerardo.

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