The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - July 12, 2024
The surface facilities at Keno Hill prior to Hecla Mining's acquisition of the high-grade silver mine.
The Greens Creek mine in Alaska is on pace to produce more than 9.4 million oz of silver this year.
Hecla Mining Company July 10 reported that continued improvements in performance at its Keno Hill mine in the Yukon has the Idaho-based mining company on pace to produce 17 million ounces of silver in 2024.
During the first six months of this year, Hecla's operations produced 8.7 million oz of silver, which is 10% higher than the 7.9 million oz produced at the midpoint of 2023. They also produced 73,916 oz of gold, 64.8 million pounds of zinc, and 50.57 million lb of lead during the first half of this year.
"With Keno Hill's expected silver production to exceed 2.7 million ounces this year, Hecla is on track to produce about 17 million ounces in 2024, a nearly 20% growth rate from 2023, making Hecla the fastest growing established silver producer with production growth in the best geographical regions," said Cassie Boggs, who is serving as Hecla's interim president and CEO.
The anticipated silver output at Keno Hill, however, could be impacted in the wake of the June 24 heap leach incident at Victoria Gold Corp.'s Eagle Gold mine.
After a slower-than-anticipated ramp-up to commercial production in 2023, Keno Hill produced 1.5 million oz of silver over the first half of this year, which is 739% higher than the same period last year.
Hecla, which gained ownership of Keno Hill through the acquisition of Alexco Resources late in 2022, began ramping up toward commercial production at the Yukon operation during the second quarter of last year.
This ramp-up, however, has taken longer than originally anticipated. After producing 184,264 oz of silver during the second quarter of last year, output climbed to 710,012 oz of silver during the third quarter.
Hecla, however, slowed its ramp-up to full production at Keno Hill last year to implement an action plan to improve safety at the Yukon mine. As a result of the more measured approach, the operation produced 608,301 oz of silver during the fourth quarter and was at 646,312 oz during the first three months of this year.
During the second quarter of this year, the silver output at Keno Hill jumped 39% to 900,440 oz.
Hecla attributed the increased production to a higher and more consistent mill throughput of 406 tons of ore per day, which is a 47% improvement over the first quarter and closing in on the 440 tpd target.
The average grade of ore fed through the mill during the second quarter was 25.1 oz per ton (approximately 859 grams per metric ton) silver.
"At Keno Hill we continue to focus on improving the safety culture and environmental performance, positioning the mine for long term success and while our actions are starting to show positive results, more work is required at this operation," said Boggs. "We are also in contact with and continue to monitor the positions of First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, on whose Traditional Territory Keno Hill is partly located."
Hecla's discussions with Na-Cho Nyäk Dun are likely centered on the First Nation's call for a pause of mining in its territory following a collapse of the heap leach pad at Victoria Gold's Eagle mine, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Keno Hill.
In a July 3 press release, the First Nation recognized that "mining brings benefits to the region" but emphasized that "environmental and safety protections cannot be an afterthought."
"All mining activity must pause until there is a land use plan that limits development and includes rigorous oversight and enforcement of mining and industrial operations on our Territory," said Na-Cho Nyäk Dun Chief Dawna Hope.
Such a pause could result in a winding down of mining at Keno Hill as operations were beginning to reach commercial capacity.
The Greens Creek mine in Alaska is on pace to produce more than 9.4 million oz of silver this year.
While it is unclear whether the pause called for by Na-Cho Nyäk Dun will include the Keno Hill mine, Hecla would likely still have a strong year of silver production if it wound down operations in the Yukon.
This is due to the strong and steady production at its Greens Creek mine in Southeast Alaska and Lucky Friday mine in Idaho.
Greens Creek produced 4.7 million oz of silver during the first six months of 2024. While this is roughly 8% lower than the 5.1 million oz produced over the first half of 2023, it still accounts for nearly half of Hecla's overall silver output.
The Southeast Alaska operation also produced 28,725 oz of gold, which accounts for nearly 40% of Hecla's first-half production of the precious metal, as well as significant zinc and lead byproducts.
Lucky Friday delivered another 2.4 million oz of Hecla's first half silver production, along with lead and zinc byproducts.
A fire last August took Lucky Friday offline until Jan. 9. With commercial operations being attained again in March, the Idaho mine produced 1.3 million oz of silver during the second quarter.
Based on second-quarter production, Greens Creek and Lucky Friday are on pace to produce a combined 7 million oz of silver during the second half of 2024. This would put Hecla's 2024 production at around 15.7 million oz, which is 10% higher than 2023. Continued output from Keno Hill would elevate that number above 17 million oz for the year.
Hecla's Casa Berardi mine in Quebec produced 45,191 oz of gold during the first six months of this year, a 4% increase over the same period of 2023.
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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