Hecla Mining announced that its Lucky Friday silver mine, located in the North-western US State of Idaho, will resume production at full capacity in Q4, 2020.
The silver mine ramp-up is ahead of schedule. Production here was disrupted following a strike that went on for several years.
In October-end, the company indicated that its lead production in Jan-Sept 2020 increased by 41pc to 22,334.88mt as miners at Lucky Friday called off the strike. The company had reported an increase in zinc production by 14pc to 44,179.89mt from 38,711.38mt in Jan-Sept period in 2019.
In Q3, 2020, Hecla’s lead production rose by 60pc to 8,845.05mt from 5,540.17mt in July-Sept 2019. Hecla’s zinc output increased by 17pc to 16,326.60mt in September quarter from 13,982.43mt in the prior-year period as a result of a strong performance at Green Creek and Lucky Friday mines.
Hecla’s silver production rose to 3.5mn ounces in July-Sep quarter as compared to 3.25mn ounces in 2019. Hecla reported gold production of 41,174 ounces, compared to 77,311 in Q3 2019.
Hecla’s deep underground mine produces silver, lead, zinc and is in the Coeur d’Alene Mining District in Idaho. The mine is operational since 1942. The company suffered a loss of $14.6mn due to the strike that began in 2018.
This mine produced 636,389 ounces of silver in Q3, up from 115,682 ounces in Q3, 2019.
Hecla’s Casa Berardi mine in Quebec, 26,405 ounces of gold was produced down from 36,547 ounces in the third quarter of 2019.