DOLLY VARDEN SILVER CORPORATION
Management's Discussion and Analysis
As of March 31, 2022
This Management Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") of Dolly Varden Silver Corporation (the "Company" or "Dolly Varden") is for the three months ended March 31, 2022, and is prepared by management using information available as of May 30, 2022. This MD&A should be read in conjunction with the condensed consolidated interim financial statements of the Company for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and the audited financial statements of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2021, and the notes thereto, prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. This MD&A complements and supplements, but does not form part of, the Company's condensed consolidated interim financial statements.
This MD&A contains forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the adequacy of cash resources to carry out the Company's exploration programs or the need for future financing are forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements, including those not specifically identified herein, are made subject to cautionary language on page 18. Readers are advised to refer to the cautionary language when reading any forward-looking statements.
This MD&A is prepared in conformity with National Instrument ("NI") 51-102F1Continuous Disclosure Obligations. All dollar amounts referred to in this MD&A are expressed in Canadian dollars, except where indicated otherwise.
Overview
Dolly Varden Silver Corporation was incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act in the province of British Columbia (or "BC") on March 4, 2011 and is a public company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "DV". The Company's primary business is the acquisition and exploration of properties in Canada. In addition, the Company trades on the OTCQX trading platform in the United States under the trading symbol "DOLLF". The Company's head office Suite 3123, 595 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V7X 1J1. The registered address and records office of the Company is located at Suite 1700 Park Place, 666 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6C 2X8.
Dolly Varden is a mineral exploration company focused on exploration advancing the Kitsault Valley project ("KV Project"), which includes the Dolly Varden property and the Homestake Ridge property located in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia, Canada, 25 kilometres ("km") by road to tide water. The 163-square km project hosts the high-grade silver and gold resources of Dolly Varden and Homestake Ridge along with the past-producing Dolly Varden and Torbrit silver mines. It is considered to be prospective for hosting further precious metal deposits, being on the same structural and stratigraphic belts that host numerous other, on-trend,high-grade deposits, such as Eskay Creek and Brucejack. The KV Project also contains the Big Bulk property, which is prospective for porphyry and skarn style copper and gold mineralization, similar to other such deposits in the region (Red Mountain, KSM, Red Chris).
The Company presently has two current NI 43-101Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects reports published on May 8, 2019 for the Dolly Varden property and January 20, 2022 for the Homestake Ridge property. The KV Project hosts the high- grade silver and gold resources of Dolly Varden and Homestake Ridge with combined resources of 34,731,000 ounces of silver and 165,993 ounces of gold in the Indicated category and 29,277,000 ounces of silver and 816,719 ounces of gold in the Inferred category.
The Company currently has no producing mines and consequently no revenue or cash flow from operations. The recovery of the amounts comprising exploration and evaluation assets are dependent upon (1) the ability of the Company to obtain necessary financing to successfully complete the exploration and development of those resources; (2) the confirmation of economically recoverable reserves; and (3) future profitable production or on selling the project. It is the intention of the Company to obtain financing through access to public equity markets, debt and partnerships or joint ventures as sources of funding for its exploration expenditures and to meet ongoing working capital requirements.
Homestake Ridge Project Acquisition
On December 6, 2021, the Company and Fury Gold Mines Ltd. ("Fury") entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which the Company agreed to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Fury's wholly owed subsidiary, Homestake Resource Corporation ("HRC"), which holds a 100% interest in the Homestake Ridge property, in exchange for a $5 million cash payment and the issuance of 76,504,590 common shares of the Company for a total value of $65.4 million when the
DOLLY VARDEN SILVER CORPORATION
Management's Discussion and Analysis
As of March 31, 2022
transaction was completed on February 25, 2022. The transaction was approved by the Company's shareholders on February 22, 2022. Fury now owns approximately 33% of the Company on an issued and outstanding share basis.
Consolidation of the Dolly Varden and Homestake Ridge properties is the next logical step in the advancement of both properties, as it consolidates one mineralized trend, allows for potential co-development opportunities combined with capital and operating economies of scale. It also increases the resources of precious metals of the Company nearly threefold, making the combined project larger and therefore more attractive to be acquired and developed. The KV Project is now among the largest high-grade, undeveloped precious metal assets in western Canada.
Outlook
Dolly Varden has initiated field activities on the Kitsault Valley Project, located near tidewater in northwest British Columbia. Objectives of the 2022 Program includes: upgrade current Inferred Mineral Resources to Measured and Indicated classification, expand known deposits and to discover new silver and gold mineralization along the Kitsault Valley trend of multiple deposits and historic mines.
Three diamond drill rigs are being mobilized by barge to the village of Alice Arm to complete an initial 99 drill holes Program totalling 30,000 meters along the Kitsault Valley Trend. Camp expansion and infrastructure upgrades are underway to accommodate our expanded exploration team, with a significant contingent of team members of the Nisga'a Nation.
Dolly Varden's Kitsault Valley Project currently hosts Indicated Resources of 34.7 million ounces of silver and 166 thousand ounces of gold with additional Inferred Resources of 29.3 million ounces of silver and 817 thousand ounces of gold within multiple outcropping deposits in the 163 square kilometer property. Resource upgrade and expansion drilling will begin at the Torbrit silver deposit, initially targeting step-outs at the Wolf Mine and between the Torbrit and North Star silver Deposits.
In late spring, drilling will commence at the Homestake Main and Homestake Silver deposits with the purpose of expanding mineralization along strike and down-dip as well upgrading current Inferred Resources.
Through integration of excellent detailed geological mapping integrated with innovative geochemical, geophysical and remote sensing methods, Dolly Varden's strong technical team has identified new greenfield target areas along the Kitsault Valley trend. Additional surface mapping and sampling coupled with IP geophysical surveys will help refine drill targets to be tested during the 2022 Program. Twenty exploration targets have been initially identified, eight of which have been classified as Priority 1.
2022 Highlights
- On January 31, 2022, the Company released results from resource infill and expansion drilling in and around the Torbrit deposit, including the Kitsol Vein ("Kitsol"). Silver mineralization was encountered in most areas tested, usually with significant accessory zinc and lead values and commonly over widths suggesting potential amenably to bulk underground mining. Highlights include:
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- DV21-274:12.28 m true width averaging 354 grams per tonne ("g/t") Ag at Kitsol;
- DV21-275:18.27 m true width averaging 230 g/t Ag at Kitsol;
- DV21-275:0.70 m drilled length averaging 1,220 g/t Ag at Torbrit North Zone;
- DV21-277:16.00 m drilled length averaging 212 g/t Ag (including 4.70 m of 507 g/t Ag) at Torbrit: and
- DV21-278:5.10 m drilled length averaging 364 g/t Ag at Torbrit Main.
- On February 25, 2022, the Company acquired the Homestake Ridge property from Fury and closed a $5.3 million financing with Hecla Canada Ltd. ("Hecla") pursuant to their Investor Rights Agreement, as defined later in this document. The Company's KV Project now has combined resources of 47,180,475 ounces Indicated and 90,530,925 ounces Inferred of silver on an equivalent basis using a gold/silver ratio of 75:1 comprised of silver and gold.
DOLLY VARDEN SILVER CORPORATION
Management's Discussion and Analysis
As of March 31, 2022
- On February 25, 2022, Tim Clark, the Chief Executive Officer of Fury, and Michael Henrichsen, the Senior Vice President, Exploration of Fury, joined the Dolly Varden Board of Directors (or "Board") after Thomas Wharton, Don Birak and Annette Cusworth stepped down from the Board.
- On February 25, 2022, Ivan Bebek joined the Dolly Varden team as an advisor.
- On March 31, 2022, the Company raised $11.5 million flow-through financing through issuance of 11,274,400 common shares at $1.02 per share. Hecla exercised its anti-dilution right in respect of this financing and acquired 1,742,472 common shares of the Company at a price per common share of $0.86 for gross proceeds of $1,498,526.
Combined KV Project with deposits of Dolly Varden and Homestake Ridge properties:
Mineral Properties: KV Project
The KV Project contains the Dolly Varden property with silver resources, the newly acquired Homestake Ridge property with gold, silver, copper and lead resources, and the Big Bulk property, a copper-gold porphyry system. Together the consolidated KV Project creates one large, high grade precious metals project comprising 16,300 hectares, which is 100% held by Dolly Varden. This provides the Company with economies of scale and exploration upside potential in the silver and gold-rich Dolly Varden Mining Camp, north of Alice Arm, within the regionally important and prolific Stewart Complex in northwestern BC.
Dolly Varden Property
The Dolly Varden property encompasses several historic underground workings, including production stopes from the Dolly Varden and Torbrit mines, exploration adits at North Star and Wolf, as well as several other showings and many mineralized prospects. The silver-rich deposits found on the Dolly Varden property are hosted in Jurassic-aged volcanic and sedimentary rocks (Iskut River Formation) of the Hazelton Group. They display textural and mineralogical similarity to mineralization found in the region in subaqueous, gold-and-silver-rich, hot spring-type volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) and epithermal style deposits, such as the Eskay Creek and Brucejack deposits, respectively. The nearby Big Bulk claims host porphyry copper-gold style mineralization.
DOLLY VARDEN SILVER CORPORATION
Management's Discussion and Analysis
As of March 31, 2022
Since acquiring the property in 2011, fieldwork was dedicated to confirming and expanding the known mineralization near the historic deposits to upgrade into a compliant and current mineral resource estimate ("Current Mineral Resource Estimate") for the Wolf, Dolly Varden, Torbrit and North Star deposits. The Company's work consisted of surface and underground mapping, underground rehabilitation, detailed sampling, data compilation from reliable historic records and over 17,000 metres of core drilling. This data was used to complete an initial Mineral Resource Estimate in 2015.
During the years ended December 31, 2011 to 2018, the Company purchased the Dolly Varden property, consisting of fee simple titles, mineral claims and mineral tenures in respect of certain lands located in the Kitsault area of BC. The property is subject to a 2% net smelter return royalty ("NSR") of which one-half (or 1%) of the NSR can be repurchased by the Company for $2,750,000 at any time.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company acquired surface rights and fee simple lands where the exploration camp, offices, logging and sampling facilities are situated. The parcel of land is located at waterfront for shoreline access, current core storage areas and has related property water rights. The total property package had been previously leased annually by the Company from private owners. The transaction involved a payment of $153,000 in cash and issuance of 192,061 common shares of the Company with a value of $149,808 for a total cost of $302,808.
The Dolly Varden property 2021 exploration program is described below.
Homestake Ridge Property
On February 25, 2022, Dolly Varden acquired the Homestake Ridge property. The Homestake Ridge property consists of a 7,500-hectare project area hosting three known deposits that make up the Current Mineral Resource Estimate. Mineralization in the main deposits is interpreted to be structurally controlled epithermal veins and breccia systems within the prospective Jurassic Hazelton, the formation hosting the deposits in the Dolly Varden property area. In addition to epithermal style mineralization, Homestake Ridge also hosts stratabound volcanogenic style mineralization and intrusion related alteration and stock work veining.
Gold mineralization was first discovered at the Homestake Ridge Project over 100 years ago with several exploration adits and trenches exposing vein and breccia style mineralization at surface. Mineralization was of significant grade and thickness that the property has been the subject of numerous exploration programs since the 1920s, including prospecting, mapping, soil sampling, exploration drilling and airborne geophysics that have advanced the project and defined the trend of structurally controlled mineralization within the northern continuation of the Jurassic Hazelton formation from the Dolly Varden project. The 15 kilometres of prospective Hazelton formation on the combined Homestake Ridge and Dolly Varden projects has been the focus for historical exploration.
Since 2008, significant diamond drilling at Homestake Ridge has led to definition of a current NI 43-101-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate that is summarized in the Homestake Ridge Project Acquisition section. The advanced stage project has had a previous economic analysis completed on it in 2020. The exploration potential along the Homestake Ridge trend was tested with deeper historic drilling near the mineral resource and indicates the mineralization continues to depth and along strike. Recent analysis of historic airborne geophysics data from the Homestake Project has defined exploration targets along trend of Homestake deposits to the south.
The 5.4 km distance between the deposits at Homestake Ridge and the deposits at Dolly Varden are, in the Company's opinion, prospective for further discovery of silver and gold mineralization as the area is on a magnetic, stratigraphic and anomalous silver and gold geochemical trend within the Kitsault Valley. Geophysics interpretation has defined several target zones below a sediment cover to test along this trend in future exploration.
DOLLY VARDEN SILVER CORPORATION
Management's Discussion and Analysis
As of March 31, 2022
Mineral Resource Estimates of Dolly Varden and Homestake Ridge Properties
Dolly Varden Resource Estimate
An updated NI 43-101-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate was released on May 8, 2019 prior to the exploration season. The updated Mineral Resource Estimate was completed by Steven Nicholls, MAIG and Andrew J. Turner, P.Geo. of APEX Geosciences Ltd., independent geological consultants and Qualified Persons (as defined in NI 43-101) and covered the four known deposits on the Dolly Varden property. The data used was up to the end of the 2018 drilling campaign