Denham Capital Announces Partnership with JDS Silver
Denham Capital, a leading resources and energy-focused global private equity firm, recently announced that it has partnered with Vancouver-based Canadian mine development platform JDS Silver Inc., providing the company USD$65 million to complete construction and bring into production the Silvertip Mine in Northern British Columbia.
Located within the Silvertip Creek valley in the Tootsee River Watershed, Silvertip is a high-grade silver-lead-zinc mine whose 30 percent zinc equivalent grade makes it one of the world’s highest grade zinc deposits. JDS Silver began construction in December 2015 and expects the asset to begin production in late September 2016. In addition to developing Silvertip’s zinc resources, the company plans to produce silver and lead in concentrate from the mines.
“Working with Denham has been essential in proving the unique model for the execution of a project like Silvertip and we are very proud of our partnership,” said JDS Silver CEO Jeff Stibbard. “The combination of our development and operational capabilities along with the firm’s equity capital and strategic expertise has allowed us to expedite the construction and development of the Silvertip Mine into production.”
Established in 2012 and led by Stibbard, a mining engineer with expertise in world class mine design, construction and operations, JDS Silver is a fit-for-purpose owner- mining company focused on high potential near-term stranded assets in West and North Canada. It identifies unique opportunities and deploys its proprietary value proposition to create projects that will generate value where others fail to see it.
Prior to forming JDS Silver, Stibbard founded JDS Energy and Mining, a full service engineering consulting business, co-founded Western Oil Sands, where he led the production of the 450,000tpd Meskeg River Oil Sands Mine and was responsible for BHP Billiton’s $1bn Ekati diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories. He is joined by a team with more than 100 years of experience in identifying and maximizing the value of stranded mining assets that includes President Brent Gilchrist, COO Kevin Weston, CFO Richard Godfrey and VP of Finance Andrew Malashewsky.
“We are delighted that our first investment in the Canadian mining sector, partnering with Jeff and his team, has led to the Silvertip mine being constructed in a mere nine months. JDS Silver has pulled out all the stops on this one.” added Caroline Donally, Denham Capital Director. “Our partnership with JDS Silver is a perfect example of our team-first approach. Their proven track record, comprehensive engineering and evaluation knowledge were instrumental in bringing this historic mine to fruition, along with our capital. We eagerly anticipate the next stage in Silvertip’s life and look forward to working with this team on future endeavors.”
