After Aztec Minerals (AZT: TSX-V, OTCQB: AZZTF) commenced drilling at Tombstone in Arizona at the end of February, the first result came in on April 26, 2023, and it was pretty spectacular. As the company was drilling for oxidized gold in order to expand the mineralized envelope, estimated by me at about 600koz Au, high grade gold was also hit in first hole TC23-01, generating 125m @ 0.577g/t Au and 72g/t Ag from 53.3m depth, including an impressive 7.65m @ 733.92g/t Ag, which included an excellent 1.52m @ 3,477g/t Ag from 126.5m depth (residual grade of 54g/t Ag).

After hitting impressive intercepts like 25m @ 46,3g/t Au at Homestake Ridge and 15,94m @ 1499g/t Ag at the Wolf Vein, Dolly Varden Silver (DV.V)(DOLLF.US) seems to have taken the main stage of successful exploring juniors.

Beside the headline-grabbing results, this has also a lot to do with the increasing tonnage potential because of these stellar results, as beforehand years of drilling under different management didn’t seem to make much of an impact, since the resource barely increased.

At a time where sentiment seems to be turning into risk-off, with the markets contemplating whether the Fed options for a 50 basis points rate hike instead of the earlier telegraphed 25p raise as the latest inflation figures came in higher than expected despite solid market fundamentals, Aztec Minerals (AZT: TSX-V, OTCQB: AZZTF) doesn’t seem to bother too much, as it raised C$1.1M, outlined drill programs for their Cervantes and Tombstone projects, and very recently commenced drilling at Tombstone in Arizona.

Since Dolly Varden Silver (DV.V)(DOLLF.US) isn’t a pure silver play anymore since the Homestake Ridge acquisition, but about half gold and half silver, and the gold price has been trading well lately, the stock has shown strength as a consequence, also reinforced by strong drill results at Wolf and Homestake Ridge in the last few weeks.

Klondike Copper Project, Colorado (US)

After receiving their exploration permits for the Klondike Copper project on June 22, 2022, Alianza Minerals (ANZ.V, TARSF.US) wasted no time and will commence drilling in the first week of August, 2022. Drilling was planned to start mid July, but according to CEO Jason Weber this was delayed last minute, in order to accommodate one additional (unplanned) hole at another project the rig was coming from, and the contractor also wanted to get the rig in for some maintenance before mobilizing to Klondike – Alianza agreed to the short delay.

As Alianza Minerals (ANZ.V, TARSF.US) is looking to do at least 2,000m of diamond drilling at their fully owned Haldane Silver project this year, they needed to fill up the treasury before the winterbreak was over, and it appeared they did that just in time.

There seems to be no stopping of Aztec Minerals Corp. (AZT: TSX-V, OTCQB: AZZTF) as it keeps reeling in very good drill results from the California Zone at their majority owned and operated (65/35 JV with Kootenay Silver) Cervantes gold project in Sonora, Mexico.

After  a relatively quiet winter season with no drilling news, hybrid prospect generator Alianza Minerals (ANZ.V, TARSF.US) is gearing up to getting ready for potentially up to 5 drill programs this year at their various projects. The optioned out (Allied Copper) Klondike and Stateline copper projects in Colorado, operated by Alianza, are both in the targeting phase now, with exploration permits expected in a few weeks.

After announcing a C$5.3M investment at February 23, 2022 at a share price of C$0.59 in Dolly Varden Silver (DV.V)(DOLLF.US), maintaining their equity interest at 10.25%, Hecla Mining (HL.US) decided to invest further in the company, as part of a larger round led by Eventus Capital and Research Capital, which also saw other existing shareholder Eric Sprott participating again.

After drilling a stellar intercept of 136.8m @ 1.49g/t Au three weeks ago from the California Zone at their majority owned and operated (65/35 JV with Kootenay Silver) Cervantes gold project in Sonora, Mexico, Aztec Minerals Corp. (AZT: TSX-V, OTCQB: AZZTF) continues to publish more goodies, this time somewhat more normal highlights of 138.3m @ 0.58g/t Au and 54.7m @ 0.88g/t Au.