Hecla Mining

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Hecla Mining Company
TypePublic
NYSE: HL
Russell 2000 Component
IndustryMining
FoundedBurke, Idaho, U.S. (October 14, 1891 (1891-10-14))
FounderAmasa Campbell, Patsy Clark, John Finch
Headquarters
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
,
U.S.
ProductsSilver
Gold
Websitehecla-mining.com
Headframe of Hecla's Lucky Friday mine, 1995

Hecla Mining is a gold, silver and other precious metals mining company based in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Founded in 1891,[1] Therefor, the second-largest mining company that produces silver in the country is known as the Silver Valley (Idaho). In 1983 this area was designated as a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency, because of land, water and air contamination resulting from a century of mostly unregulated mining.

History[]

Through buying and selling Hecla mining company to various people, it was incorporated in Washington on July 12, 1899, with Amasa Campbell, Patsy Clark, and John Finch as its official founders. James Toner was the first to file a claim on the Hecla Company on May 5, 1855. Edward Moffit was the first manager who saw that they paid their first dividend and began rebuilding the company. James R Smith was the first president of the company. In 1904, Hecla mining company moved its headquarters from Washington to Idaho. Through years of growth, Hecla mining company managed to be listed in New York Curb Exchange and began sending ore to Bunker Hill Mine and Smelting Complex in 1917. In 1920 Hecla acquired Federal Mining & Smelting Co.'s claims near Hecla, including the Tiger-Poorman.

Hecla experienced a fire tragedy in 1923, which halted business for nearly six months. Burkes business district burnt down, which included Hecla’s surface plant. Through insurance, they returned to business and rebuilt Hecla’s plant with concrete and steel. In 1930, they gained control of the Polaris Mine and bought the surrounding property. This was a successful move because Polaris could pay dividends for Hecla for the remainder of 1940.[2] Hecla took advantage of the low season, which the country experienced in the 1930s, and developed new mines, including Polaris in the 1940s. Hecla began a tailings mill at Osborn, processing over 4 million tons of canyons tailings for the next five years. Consequently, more ore had been discovered in 1946 after deepening the silver summit shaft to 3,000 feet (910 m). In 1955, Hecla became the largest shareholder. With as president, the company rose higher because he reconciled Hecla’s balance sheet and sold its interest in exchange for stock.[3] In 1958, Hecla became the principal owner of lucky Friday silver-lead mines after purchasing its shares. In 1964 the management merged Lucky Friday and silver-lead mines into Hecla mining company. This allowed Hecla to trade on the New York Curb Exchange. In 1967, Hecla agreed to develop the lakeshore copper mine in Arizona, which was unsuccessful due to the low copper prices. Hecla suffered a considerable loss; the copper mine was closed eventually.[4]

In 1979, William Griffith was elected president of Hecla. He sank a third shaft at lucky Friday, taking it to 6205 feet in 1983. Hecla also acquired the knob hill gold mine and the whole of random Friday. In 1982, star morning was shut down. Hecla continued to merge and acquire new mines in following years. Hecla, in 2011, landed an environmental suit under the Superfund statute. In 2017, it reported 2016 production totaling 17.2 million ounces of silver and 233,929 ounces of gold.[5]

Greens Creek mine[]

Hecla has filed a tailing for Greens Creek with a vision of expanding the current Greens Creek site with an additional 12.7 acres (5.1 ha). According to Hecla report will help mining of the site exceed behind 2021 when the current cite will reach full exploitation capacity. Hecla also proceed a plan for such an expansion as follows:

  • Avoids new Monument disturbance outside the existing U.S. Forest Service-approved Greens Creek Lease Boundary
  • Avoids direct disturbance to fish-bearing reaches of Tributary Creek
  • Avoids the need to construct a new, remote tailings-disposal facility
  • Continues the same or similar dry-stack tailings-disposal method, which has been previously reviewed and approved by the U.S. Forest Service
  • Extends the existing tailings stack in a manner that minimizes disturbance. To the extent practical, it locates the extended tailings stack and new, associated, supporting infrastructure on areas already disturbed and/or on areas immediately adjacent to existing disturbance. Where possible, the company plans to use existing infrastructure, such as roads, water-treatment facilities, drainage control, etc.
  • Minimizes direct, new disturbance to environmental resources and sensitive habitats, such as jurisdictional waters of the U.S.
  • Considers future closure and reclamation as part of design and operations
  • Designs and constructs the TDF to be technically feasible and environmentally sound.

This plan suggests a new method of reducing tailing footprints.[6]

Ore processing[]

Copper skull, Calumet and Hecla Min

Ore processing begins with crushing and grinding the ore to a fine powder using a . Water is added to form a slurry, and lime is added to the slurry to leach the gold and silver into a solution. To remove gold and silver from the solution, carbon is added and is later heated to 600 degrees Celsius to extract gold and silver from the tanks. [7]Pure gold and silver is recovered through a process of rinsing the cathodes, retrieving a muddy sludge, drying it and heating it to retrieve 99% pure gold and silver.

Labor[]

Group of Miners, Just up from Underground

Hecla mines a third of all silver produced in the United States[8] Being a mining company, it seeks to ensure employee safety. Hecla offers direct and indirect jobs and its economic impact can average over 800 million dollars in wages over a five-year period. Hecla has over 1640 employees globally. Nineteen percent of their salaried positions are occupied by women; women comprise 9.3% of Hecla’s workforce. In 2019, employees worked over 5.7 million man hours and 59000 hours were dedicated to employee safety training.[9]

Location sites[]

Hecla's processing takes place in various sites besides the United States. Some Hecla mining sites are Casa Berardi, in La Sarre Quebec. This site is 100% owned by Hecla, with a production rate of 121,493 ounces of gold.[10] Another site is the Greens Creek and Lucky Friday, Lucky Friday is a deep underground site that has been operation since 1942. Due to COVID-19 in 2020 the site production decreased significantly, and was only able to produce about 2.0 million ounces[11] of silver that year.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Yahoo finance profile
  2. ^ "History". Hecla Mining Company. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  3. ^ , Wikipedia, 2021-01-29, retrieved 2021-02-26
  4. ^ "History". Hecla Mining Company. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  5. ^ , Wikipedia, 2021-01-29, retrieved 2021-02-26
  6. ^ "Greens Creek files plan to expand tailings facility". Hecla Greens Creek. 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  7. ^ "Ore processing – Waihi Gold" (in en-NZ). Retrieved 2021-02-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  8. ^ "Hecla Mining Company". Hecla Mining Company. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  9. ^ "Hecla Announces 2020 Production and Cash Position". ir.hecla-mining.com. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  10. ^ "Casa Berardi". Hecla Mining Company. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  11. ^ "Lucky Friday". Hecla Mining Company. Retrieved 2021-03-26.

External links[]

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