Kootenay Silver Inc. (V.KTN) is a Canadian and Mexican based silver exploration company actively engaged in the development of several major silver projects in Mexico. Lyndsay Malchuk with Stockhouse Publishing recently sat down with President and CEO, James McDonald to converse about the macro-silver sector, the company’s Mexico project and drill program, and so much more.
The following is a transcription of the above video, and The Market Online has edited it for clarity.
Lyndsay: Let’s talk about the macro silver sector to begin with. So, given the current trends in the global silver market, how do you foresee these developments impacting Kootenay Silver’s strategic initiatives and operations?
James: We’re a silver explorer. We’re a discoverer of silver deposits in Mexico.
We have several now, three in fact, and in the middle of a fourth discovery, which we’ll talk about later.
We’re very silver bullish, let’s say, and we’re strong believers in that silver market. There is certainly a very big tightness in the supply demand dynamics and macro, huge growing industrial component and use to silver.
Then when you combine that with the monetary use of silver alongside gold, you get this real explosive upside potential.
We’re seeing gold hitting new highs yet again, yet silver is only about 60% on its way to its old high, which we believe it’s going to exceed on this current, what we think is a silver bull run here that we’ve entered into.
Lyndsay: What about the Columba project in Mexico? Maybe you can give us a bit of an overview of the recent drilling results at that project.
Particularly focusing on the significance of the high-grade silver intercepts reported in January this year.
James: The last release in January was on what we call the F Vein, and some other veins as well.
Not the principal vein we’re drilling, but it just shows the potential multiple veins there with high grades.
We ran an intercept of over 32 meters at 200 grams per tonne with an interior core of over six meters of over 400 grams per tonne. That’s become almost commonplace through the property.
So, highlight holes on other veins like the primary structure so far, the D Vein; 34 meters at a half kilo to some unbelievable numbers.
98 meters of over 200 grams just incredible intercepts and cores to these intercepts are like nearly 10 meters of 1,700 grams per tonne.
Now we’re developing or demonstrating size through drilling as well. We’ve extended that principal vein, the D Vein to a 1,200-meter strike length and wide open to depth.
So really exciting results here. Really great upside.
Lyndsay: What about your 20,000-meter drill program? You have over 19,000 meters and 50 holes completed in 2024 of your drill program.
Can you share some insights into the key findings so far and how they align with your expectations?
James: It’s really hitting our expectations well and exceeding them.
This drill program 20,000 meters is part of a broader 50,000-meter plan that we have in place.
We started this 20,000 meters, as you point out in 2024, and we’re nearly finished.
We’ll be finished pretty soon here. So, we’ll be seeing assay results coming out well into March.
We’ll continue drilling in fact, and then we’ll compile all those results. The company will be in a position for a maiden resource is our hope and expectation.
Possibly for some time in April because at the end of this 20,000 meters, we will have drilled over 200 holes on various veins, mainly three main veins and 50,000 meters of drilling.
Lyndsay: What about your upcoming results then? As of November 2024, there were 1,080 samples from eight holes pending assay results.
Have these results been received? And if they have, what do they indicate about the project’s potential?
James: Some of those results were put out in that January release.
Currently to bring us up to date, we have over 10 more holes in the process of being sampled or at the lab and pending release. So those will be coming out.
Visually we’re hitting the vein everywhere we expect. We’re hitting some really good widths. And so, let’s get those assays out.
Lyndsay: And what about in the near future, the outlook? With the maiden resource anticipated around the middle of April of this year. What are the critical milestones leading up to this and how do you envision this impacting the project’s development trajectory?
James: An initial number will be out there and show what we’ve got and what we’re growing on, because this is just really getting started.
The zones are wide open on these veins and this drill program certainly hasn’t closed any of it off.
We’re continuing to drill as we move along and we’re shooting for that April release on a maiden resource and then keep going and making it bigger.
You can find Kootney Silver on the Venture under the ticker symbol KTN. And for more information on them, their website is https://kootenaysilver.com/ .
Company shares last traded at $1.03
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