furtherincreased its output guidance for the year as it posted year-over-yearimprovements in gold, silver and lead production in the second quarter, thecompany said in a July 11 statement.

The companynow estimates its 2016 output to total 15.75 million ounces of silver and233,000 ounces of gold, or 44 million ounces of silver equivalent. Thesetargets compare to Hecla's previouslyupgraded guidance of 15.0 million ounces of silver and 207,000ounces of gold.

Along withits revised output targets, Hecla posted a 71.2% surge in its second-quartersilver production, to about 4.24 million ounces from approximately 2.48 millionounces in the same quarter of 2015. Gold output also grew by 40.9% to 62,965ounces from 44,692 ounces last year.

The miner'slead and zinc production also increased, 9.1% to 10,391 tonnes and 3.5% to18,132 tonnes, respectively, during the quarter. In total, Hecla's silverequivalent output in the period rose by 38.4% to about 11.81 million ounces.

Heclaexpects to release its second quarter financial results on Aug. 4. The companyrecently made a C$12.6 millionplay for Dolly VardenSilver Corp., offering 69 Canadian cents per Dolly Varden share.