The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - November 8, 2024
Aerial view of the Keno Hill mill facilities prior to Hecla's purchase of the Yukon silver mine in 2022.
Greens Creek produced 1.9 million oz of silver, with gold, zinc, lead, and copper byproducts during the third quarter.
Rob Krcmarov
Hecla Mining Company Nov. 7 reported that permitting delays at its Keno Hill mine in the Yukon, coupled with slightly lower quarterly production at its Greens Creek and Lucky Friday operations, has knocked the Idaho-based mining company off its pace to produce 17 million ounces of silver in 2024.
Over the first six months of this year, Hecla's operations had produced 8.7 million oz of silver, along with 73,916 oz of gold, 64.8 million pounds of zinc, and 50.57 million lb of lead.
The company, however, fell short of the more than 4.3-million-oz-silver-per-quarter during the third quarter.
"Hecla produced 3.6 million ounces of silver in the third quarter, bringing year-to-date production to 12.3 million ounces," said Hecla Mining Chair Cassie Boggs.
One of the major contributors to Hecla's lower silver output during the third quarter was the June 24 collapse of the heap leach pad at Victoria Gold Corp.'s Eagle Gold mine, which lies about 20 miles (31 kilometers) northwest of Keno Hill.
Both operations are within First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun's traditional territory.
Following the Eagle Mine heap leach incident, the First Nation said it 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," Na-Cho Nyäk Dun Chief Dawna Hope said in early July.
This call for a pause of mining in Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, coupled with the First Nations territorial government's focus on handling the Eagle Mine incident, resulted in a delay in the issuance of permits Hecla needed for a dry stack tailings facility at Keno Hill.
"We are prioritizing building the foundation for this operation's future to operate in Yukon successfully, which includes improving safety and environmental practices and, importantly, valuing the perspectives of the Yukon Government and the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, both of whom have important roles in permitting our improvements to infrastructure as well as our future operations," said Boggs.
As a result of the permitting delays, Keno Hill produced 597,293 oz of silver during the third quarter, which is 34% lower than the 900,440 oz produced during the second quarter.
The drop in silver output was due to lower mill throughput partially offset by slightly higher ore grades.
Despite the disruptions, Keno Hill produced 2.1 million ounces of silver over the first nine months of 2024 and had 460,000 oz of silver in ore stockpiled at the Yukon mine when milling operations resumed on Oct. 26.
"At Keno Hill, we have already mined more than 2.5 million ounces and produced 2.1 million ounces of silver this year, putting us on track to meet our production guidance for this year," said Boggs.
Greens Creek produced 1.9 million oz of silver, with gold, zinc, lead, and copper byproducts during the third quarter.
Hecla's third-quarter silver production was also impacted by slower-than-anticipated output from the Greens Creek Mine in Southeast Alaska, which is the company's metal-producing stalwart.
Greens Creek produced 1.9 million oz of silver – along with significant gold, zinc, and lead byproducts – during the third quarter. This is 17% lower than the 2.3 million oz produced during the previous quarter and the lowest output from the Southeast Alaska mine in over a year.
One of the primary contributors to lower silver production at Greens Creek was five days of unscheduled downtime for repairs to the semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill.
Hecla has added copper to the traditional gold, zinc, and lead byproducts at Greens Creek. While copper has long been present at Greens Creek, it has never been a payable metal in the silver concentrates produced. As a result of now being considered a payable metal, 400 tons of byproduct copper was produced at the Southeast Alaska mine during the third quarter.
"While Greens Creek's silver production was lower than anticipated due to five days of unplanned mill maintenance in the third quarter, our team was able to complete the maintenance quickly and complete a portion of our fourth quarter scheduled maintenance simultaneously," said Boggs
While slightly off pace from the record second quarter, silver output at the Lucky Friday Mine in Idaho continues to be strong.
During the third quarter, Lucky Friday produced 1.2 million oz of gold, along with zinc and lead byproducts, which is about 9% lower than the previous three-month period.
Rob Krcmarov
The drop in silver output is due to slightly lower mill throughput and 6% lower ore grades.
"Lucky Friday had a strong quarter as the mill achieved the second-highest throughput in its 80-year history after a record last quarter," said Boggs.
Although third-quarter production was down, the Hecla chair believes its three silver mines are positioned for a strong finish to the year under the guidance of Rob Krcmarov, who assumes the role of president and CEO starting today.
"Hecla has a remarkable legacy of operational excellence, innovation, and a strong commitment to responsible mining and sustainable practices," said Krcmarov. "I am thrilled to be a part of this team and I look forward to contributing to the Company's continued growth and success."
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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