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In December, 2023 Dolly Varden Silver issued Libero Copper and Gold 275,000 shares to acquire a 100% interest in the southern portion of the Big Bulk Project, contiguous with the northern portion we owned and about 5 km east of the Kitsault Valley Project. We had been talking to Libero for more than a year about the consolidation of the porphyry system into one land package. Their lead asset is in Colombia, so for them Big Bulk was a distraction. We could see the strategic value in it. We picked up this asset for a good price. Big Bulk is situated east of the main Kitsault Valley project area. It consists of 2,640 hectares in 7 mineral claims covering a copper-gold porphyry and skarn prospect on the southern shores of Kinskuch Lake. This area is on the southern limit of a continuous belt which hosts large alkalic gold-copper porphyry deposits, like the Galore Creek, Red Mountain and KSM deposits. The Big Bulk copper-gold porphyry is interpreted to fall into the same age and mineralization category. |
| The Big Bulk porphyry was discovered in the early 1900s. It’s above treeline, the rocks are exposed so it got prospected first, revealing some high-grade silver and gold veins, peripheral to the porphyry system. In a porphyry the mineralised fluids are often lower grade, copper, gold, silver and molybdenum. The deposits tend to be homogeneous, amenable to low-cost open pit mines. Over the last few decades, there have been intermittent exploration programs on Big Bulk by Agnico Eagle, Teck Resources and Homestake Resources. In 2009, AngloGold Ashanti intercepted 0.31% Cu over 54 metres from 67 to 121m, plus 4.0 g/t Au over 10 metres from 427 to 437 m, coincident with an IP chargeability geophysical anomaly.  Deal Highlights: Consolidation of the Big Bulk copper-gold mineralized calc-alkali porphyry system of the Texas Creek plutonic suite (Big Bulk)Historic data sets will be incorporated into a complete geologic model. Existing Land Use Agreement and Exploration Permit in place. We had been seeking accretive consolidation opportunities in the Kitsault Valley area. The amalgamation of the southern portion of the Big Bulk copper gold porphyry with Dolly Varden’s portion checked all the boxes. In the Golden Triangle, porphyry systems can represent metallogenic feeders to high-grade vein systems, Metallogenic feeders carry metal. They can be up to 10 kilometers away from the big porphyries. Recent work by the British Columbia Geological Survey and University of British Columbia Mineral Deposits Research Unit indicate that Big Bulk is the northernmost porphyry of a string of several porphyry mineralized systems. The did detailed mapping in the Kinskuch Lake area near the Big Bulk porphyry prospect, determining that it has characteristics and stratigraphy similar to the KSM deposits.” A 2022 KSM Pre-Feasibility Study captured proven and probable reserves of 47.3 million ounces of gold plus 7.3 billion pounds of copper and 160 million ounces of silver over a 33-year open pit mine life.  Prior to this transaction, we controlled the northern part of Big Bulk. It’s a property that we haven’t done a lot of work on because we’ve been focusing on the high-grade silver to the west. When combined with our northern portion, this doubles the size of the Big Bulk Project to approximately 6,000 hectares. We now have a major consolidated copper-gold porphyry project in the Golden Triangle, British Columbia. In the next message, I will talk about our lineup of high-level strategic investors. Shawn KhunkhunCEO, President & Director of Dolly Varden Silver |