Hecla Mining Company and its subsidiaries provide precious and base metals worldwide.
The company discovers, acquires and develops mines and other mineral interests and produces and markets (i) concentrates containing silver, gold, lead, zinc and copper, (ii) carbon material containing silver and gold, and (iii) unrefined dore containing silver and gold.
The silver, zinc and precious metals concentrates and carbon material the company produces are sold to custom smelters, metal traders and thi...
Hecla Mining Company and its subsidiaries provide precious and base metals worldwide.
The company discovers, acquires and develops mines and other mineral interests and produces and markets (i) concentrates containing silver, gold, lead, zinc and copper, (ii) carbon material containing silver and gold, and (iii) unrefined dore containing silver and gold.
The silver, zinc and precious metals concentrates and carbon material the company produces are sold to custom smelters, metal traders and third-party processors, and the unrefined dore the company produces is sold to refiners or further refined before sale of the metals to traders. The company is organized and managed in four segments that encompass the company’s operating mines and significant assets being Greens Creek, Lucky Friday, Keno Hill and Casa Berardi.
The company’s business strategy includes operating its properties safely, in an environmentally responsible manner; improving and optimizing operations at all sites, which includes implementing standardized systems and processes; optimizing asset portfolio and identifying growth opportunities; expanding the company’s proven and probable reserves, mineral resources and production capacity at the company’s properties; advancing the development and ramp up of the Keno Hill mine to profitability; seeking opportunities to acquire and invest in mining and exploration properties and companies; advancing permitting of the Libby Exploration project in Montana (50 miles from Lucky Friday); enhancing ESG performance and risk management systems; building high-performing teams and strengthen organizational capabilities; and maintaining and investing in exploration and pre-development projects in the vicinities of mining districts and projects the company believe to be under-explored and under-invested: Greens Creek on Alaska's Admiralty Island located near Juneau; North Idaho's Silver Valley in the historic Coeur d'Alene Mining District; the company’s projects located in two districts in Nevada; the company’s projects in the Keno Hill mining district in the Yukon Territory, Canada; northwestern Montana; and the Republic Mining District in Washington state.
Products and Segments
The company’s segments are differentiated by geographic region located in North America. The company produces silver, zinc, and precious metals flotation concentrates at Greens Creek and silver and zinc flotation concentrates at Lucky Friday, each of which the company sells to custom smelters and metal traders. The flotation concentrates produced at Greens Creek and Lucky Friday contain payable silver, zinc and lead, and at Greens Creek they also contain payable gold and at times copper. At Greens Creek, the company also produces gravity concentrate containing payable silver, gold and lead. Unrefined bullion (dore) is produced from the gravity concentrate by a third-party processor, and shipped to a refiner before sale of the metals to precious metal traders. Keno Hill is in ramp-up and producing silver and precious metal flotation concentrates, but at less than what the company consider to be commercial production levels. The company also produces unrefined gold and silver bullion bars (dore) and loaded carbon and precipitates at Casa Berardi, which are shipped to refiners before sale of the metals to precious metal traders. At times, the company sells loaded carbon and precipitates directly to refiners. Payable metals are those included in the company’s products which the company is paid for by smelters, metal traders and refiners. The company’s segments as of December 31, 2024 included:
Greens Creek located on Admiralty Island, near Juneau, Alaska - 100% owned.
Lucky Friday located in northern Idaho - 100% owned.
Keno Hill located in the Keno Hill Silver District in Canada's Yukon Territory - 100% owned and was acquired as part of the company’s acquisition of Alexco in September 2022. Production ramp-up commenced in June 2023.
Casa Berardi located in the Abitibi region of northwestern Quebec, Canada - 100% owned.
Governmental Regulation
The company is subject to the regulations of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (‘MSHA’) in the United States, the Commission of Labor Standards, Pay Equity and Occupational Health and Safety in Quebec, Workers' Safety and Compensation Board in the Yukon and the Mexico Ministry of Economy and Mining, and work with these agencies to address issues outlined in any investigations and inspections and continue to evaluate the company’s safety practices.
The company is working to assess and improve the existing infrastructure and the environmental management system that was put in place by the previous owners. As part of this process, the company has submitted plans to the Yukon Department of Energy, Mines and Resources to upgrade the water treatment plant at the Bermingham mine within the company’s Keno Hill operations and in the interim have made other upgrades to water treatment at the site.
Individual Properties
Material Operating Properties
Greens Creek
The company owns 100% of the Greens Creek mine, located on Admiralty Island near Juneau in southeast Alaska. The Greens Creek property includes 440 unpatented lode mining claims, 58 unpatented millsite claims, 21 patented lode claims and one patented millsite. In addition, the Greens Creek site includes properties under lease from the USFS for a road right-of-way, mine waste area and tailings storage facility. The USFS leases have varying expiration terms. Greens Creek also has title to mineral rights on 7,301 acres of federal land acquired through a land exchange with the USFS. The company is exploring, but not mining, on such federal land. The claims and leases above comprise a total area of approximately 24 square miles.
The Greens Creek deposit is a volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit with a relatively high precious metal content compared to other deposits of its type. The host rock consists predominantly of marine sedimentary and mafic to ultramafic volcanic and plutonic rocks, which have been subjected to multiple periods of deformation.
Greens Creek consists of the mine, an ore concentrating mill, a tailings storage area, a ship-loading facility, camp facilities, a ferry dock, and other related infrastructure.
Greens Creek is an underground mine accessed by a ramp from surface which produces approximately 2,300 to 2,600 tons of ore per day. The Greens Creek ore processing facility includes a SAG/ball mill grinding circuit to grind the run of mine ore to liberate the minerals and produce a slurry suitable for differential flotation of mineral concentrates.
Lucky Friday
Lucky Friday is a deep underground silver, lead and zinc mine located in the Coeur d’Alene Mining District in northern Idaho.
The Lucky Friday mine is consisted of 710 acres consisting of 43 patented mining claims and fee lands and 535 acres consisting of 53 unpatented mining claims. The company also owns or controls approximately 26 square miles of mineral interests, which include patented mining and millsite claims, fee lands, and unpatented mining claims, that are adjacent to the Lucky Friday mine property.
Keno Hill
The Keno Hill unit is located in the central Yukon Territory, Canada, and covers an area of approximately 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) in central Yukon. The operations are located in the traditional territory of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun (FNNND).
The total Hecla Keno Hill mineral claims as of December 31, 2024, covers an area of 238.12 square kilometers (92 square miles) and comprises 717 quartz mining leases, 867 quartz mining claims and two Crown Grants.
The Keno Hill property is a polymetallic silver-lead-zinc vein district with characteristics similar to other well-known mining districts in the world. Examples of this type of mineralization include the Kokanee Range (Slocan), British Columbia; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Freiberg and the Harz Mountains, Germany; and Príbram, the Czech Republic.
Casa Berardi
The company has wholly owned and operated Casa Berardi since June 2013. Casa Berardi is located 95 kilometers (59 miles) north of La Sarre in the Abitibi Region of northwestern Quebec, Canada. The property borders Ontario to the west and covers parts of Casa Berardi, Dieppe, Raymond, D'Estrees, and Puiseaux townships.
The Casa Berardi Property is in the northern part of the Abitibi Sub province, a subdivision of the Superior Province, the Archean core of the Canadian Shield.
History
Hecla Mining Company was founded in 1891. The company, a Delaware corporation, was incorporated in 1891.