The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News – October 13, 2023
Hecla's Greens Creek mine in Southeast Alaska produced 7.5 million ounces of silver over the first nine months of 2023.
High-grade silver mineralization cut during drilling at Keno Hill, a Yukon mine with reserve grades averaging 22.5 oz/t silver.
Even with an August fire shutting down operation at its Lucky Friday mine in Idaho for the rest of the year, Hecla Mining Company expects its operations in Alaska and the Yukon to help the company achieve the Idaho-based miner's silver production target for this year.
"Despite less production at the Lucky Friday, Greens Creek's consistent performance and the ramp-up of Keno Hill should allow us to be within our 2023 guidance of 14.5 to 15.5 million ounces," said Hecla Mining President and CEO Phillips Baker, Jr.
Through the first nine months of this year, Hecla's operations produced 11.4 million oz of silver, an 8% increase over the first three quarters of 2022. In addition, its mines produced 132,108 oz of gold, down about 14%; 47,715 pounds of zinc, roughly even with last year; and 34,583 pounds of lead, down about 3%.
"Silver production continues to grow with almost a million ounces more this year compared to the first three quarters last year," said Baker.
This growth is expected to continue over the next two years.
"With our silver production expected to increase to about 20 million ounces by 2025, Hecla remains the world's fastest-growing established silver producer, the largest in the U.S., and remains on track to become Canada's largest next year," Baker said.
Going into mid-year, Lucky Friday was setting a blistering silver production pace. The iconic Idaho mine produced 1.29 million oz of silver during the second quarter, the highest quarterly output since 2000.
Having hit the 2.5-million-oz silver production mark by mid-year, Hecla was expecting Lucky Friday to produce 4.5 million and 5 million oz of the precious and industrial metal this year. A fire in August, however, caused a fall of ground to occur in a secondary egress in the underground mine.
To get the Idaho mine back into production, Hecla is developing a new secondary egress consisting of a 1,600-foot ramp, a 290-foot-long manway raise, and an 850-foot ventilation raise to bypass the damaged portion of the #2 shaft.
While the company does not expect additional silver production from Lucky Friday for the balance of this year, it anticipates that the new underground development to be in place by early 2024.
"At Lucky Friday, we continue executing the plans to bring the mine back into production with no significant impact expected on 2024 production," Baker said.
Lucky Friday's 2023 silver production had hit 3 million oz before the shutdown, which is only 5% less than the 3.2 million oz produced during three full quarters of 2022.
Currently accounting for 65% of Hecla's total silver production and about 27% of the company's gold production, the Greens Creek mine in Southeast Alaska continues to be the workhorse of the silver miner's portfolio.
Through the first nine months of this year, Greens Creek produced 7.5 million oz of silver, a 2% increase over the same period of 2022. This puts the Southeast Alaska operation on pace to produce nearly 10 million oz of the metal increasingly used in clean energy and electronics this year. Greens Creek also produced 34,583 oz of gold, along with appreciable quantities of zinc and lead as byproducts.
For the third quarter, the Southeast Alaska mine produced 2.3 million oz of silver, roughly 1% less than the 2.4 million oz produced during the previous quarter. This drop is primarily attributed to lower mill throughput partially offset by higher silver grades.
Gold grades, however, fell. As a result, Greens Creek produced 15,010 oz of gold during the second quarter, 8% less than the prior period.
Hecla says the Greens Creek mine is on track to process 2,600 tons of ore per day during the fourth quarter. This would be about 4% higher than the third quarter, which should contribute to a strong finish to metals production at the Southeast Alaska operation.
Hecla's newest operation, the Keno Hill silver mine in Canada's Yukon, contributed 710,012 oz to the company's third-quarter silver production.
Since finalizing the acquisition of Keno Hill last September, Hecla has steadily been working toward bringing this high-grade silver mine online.
The ramp-up to commercial production began during the second quarter, with the Yukon mine contributing 184,264 oz of silver during the period. This continued through the third quarter, with the mill processing an average of 258 tons of ore per day at an average grade of 33 oz (1,025 grams) of silver ton.
Hecla says the tonnage mined at Keno Hill was constrained while underground infrastructure and ore headings were being developed.
Mill tonnage was also limited by the capacity of a temporary crusher.
With most of the planned infrastructure complete, twelve ore headings expected to be in place by the end of this month, and the permanent crusher slated to be commissioned early in November, the company expects the mill to ramp up to 440 tons per day by the end of the year.
At the end of the third quarter, roughly 21,000 tons of ore averaging 37 oz (1,150 grams) of silver per ton was stockpiled at Keno Hill.
Hecla's Casa Berardi gold mine in Quebec has bounced back from a second quarter that was hampered by wildfires.
While the fires did not directly endanger the company's only primary gold operation, the closure of the access road to Casa Berardi did prompt the company to suspend operation during the quarter. As a result, Casa Berardi only produced 18,901 oz of gold in the second quarter.
Third-quarter gold production at the Quebec operation increased by 28% to 24,259 oz.
"Casa Berardi performed as expected during the third quarter as the transition to full open pit mining continues with completion expected in mid-2024," Baker said.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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