Mining News: Northern Neighbors: Dolly Varden to drill B.C. silver property

Dolly Varden Silver Corp. Feb. 16 announced a C$3.5 million budget for its 2017 exploration program at the Dolly Varden silver property in northern British Columbia. This program is expected to include roughly 5,000 meters of drilling, with two-thirds allocated for resource expansion and the balance for testing outlying targets. The company also plans to carry out mapping, geophysical and geochemical surveys at the main Dolly Varden silver-zinc-lead project and the adjacent Big Bulk copper-gold project. To help finance this exploration, the company intends to raise up to C$2 million through a private placement that will involve the sale of 1,369,863 Dolly Varden shares at C73 cents per share; and 1,176,470 flow-through shares at C85 cents per share. Hecla Mining Co. currently owns about 15 percent of Dolly Varden’s shares and has the right to maintain its proportional equity interest in the company. If Hecla chooses to exercise its pro-rata rights, any securities issued to Hecla will be in addition to those issued as part of the offering. In 2016, Hecla made an offer to buy out Dolly Varden. The B.C. explorer, however, opted to take out a loan and complete a financing that prompted Hecla to withdraw its offer. Hecla President and CEO Phillips Baker, Jr., however, has indicated that Hecla remains interested in the Dolly Varden property and would maintain its interest in its namesake exploration company. In 2015, Dolly Varden published a maiden indicated resource of 31.8 million ounces of silver contained within 3.07 million metric tons of material averaging 321.6 grams per metric ton silver for the Dolly Varden, North Star, Torbrit, and Wolf deposits at its Dolly Varden property.

-Shane Lasley