Eric Sprott boosts ownership in Dolly Varden Silver

Mine financier Eric Sprott is increasing his stake in Dolly Varden Silver (TSXV: DV; US-OTC: DOLLF) to 19.9% — buying 7 million common shares of the company in a private placement at a price of 33¢ per share for gross proceeds of $2.3 million. “Eric is currently our largest shareholder with around 12.8% holdings in the company,” Shawn Khunkhun, Dolly Varden’s CEO, said in an interview. “Through this offering, we’re getting strategic support from somebody who is aligned with our long-term interests and who also provides a good source of funding.” The financing, announced on May 19, “will allow us to conserve the hard dollars we have in the treasury and to top-up our flow-through balance sheet, which would allow us to spend around $4 million on the property and still have around $2 million in the treasury.” The proceeds will be used for exploration, with a 10,000-metre drilling program slated for the summer at the company’s wholly owned Dolly Varden silver property in northwestern B.C.’s Gold Triangle region, 46 km southeast of Stewart and 23 km northeast of Alice Arm.