Hecla plans growth strategy for 2024

“We look forward to a strong year in 2024, as we execute our growth strategy to deliver up to 20 million ounces of silver production by 2025,” Phillips S. Baker Jr. said.

“With silver’s critical role in energy transition and its application in solar electricity generation, Hecla will play an important role in producing silver as the world’s fastest-growing established silver producer and the dominant producer of silver in the U.S. and soon Canada,” he said.

The company’s Nevada properties include Hollister and Midas in Elko County, Aurora in Mineral County, Fire Creek in Lander County, and Monte Cristo in Esmeralda County.

Hecla also reported that mining has restarted at the Lucky Friday underground mine in Idaho that was put on temporary shutdown back in August after a fire in a secondary escapeway, and the ramp-up of production is expected in the first quarter of 2024. There were no injuries in the fire.

Hecla additionally announced that gold production in 2023 decreased 14%, as the company had expected while the Casa Berardi Mine in Canada transitions from an underground to a surface mine. Greens Creek in Alaska produced 26% more gold, however, during the year.

Gold production companywide totaled 151,259 ounces in 2023, compared with 175,807 ounces in 2022, and gold production for the fourth quarter totaled 37,168 ounces. Silver production in the fourth quarter was nearly 2.94 million ounces.

“Hecla faced multiple challenges in 2023 with the fire at the Lucky Friday mine and improving the safety culture at Keno Hill, but despite these challenges, silver production exceeded last year as Greens Creek delivered another strong year,” Baker said.

Keno Hill is Hecla’s new silver producer. The mine in the Yukon produced 1.5 million ounces of silver in the year 2023, with 608,301 of those ounces produced in the fourth quarter.

“Lucky Friday’s production through July with our patented UCB method produced more silver than the mine typically produced in a full year with the old mining method, and the roughly half year of production at Keno Hill shows its potential to be a meaningful producer,” Baker said in the company’s Jan. 10 production announcement.

He also said that Hecla has begun the transition of Casa Berardi’s production to surface mining, “which lowered production but increased margins.”

Casa Berardi in Quebec produced 90,363 ounces of gold in the year 2023, compared with 127,590 ounces of gold in 2022, and fourth-quarter 2023 production totaled 22,517 ounces. Hecla reported that the 2023 production was down 29% because of wildfire-related closures in June and lower underground tonnage due to the transition to open pit mining.

Greens Creek produced 9.73 million ounces of silver and 60,896 ounces of gold in 2023, compared with 9.74 million ounces of silver and 48,217 ounces of gold in 2022. The mine produced 2.26 million ounces of silver and 14,651 ounces of gold in the fourth quarter, Hecla reported.

Greens Creek experienced weather events in the fourth quarter that caused road blockages and mill downtime, resulting in 12 days of lost production, according to the company. Greens Creek is within the Admiralty Island National Monument and is accessed by boat. The nearest city is Juneau.

Hecla also stated that insurance payments because of the Lucky Friday fire are expected in this first quarter.