Hecla to buy Valley-based Revett Mining for $20 million

Hecla Mining Co. will acquire a mining company attempting to earn a permit to dig silver and copper from a Northwest Montana ore deposit that has drawn the ire of conservationists worried about wilderness protections, grizzly habitat and water quality for threatened fish.

The $20 million deal for Revett Mining of Spokane Valley was announced Friday. The sale is expected to close during the second quarter.

“We consider Rock Creek a world-class deposit, with 229 million ounces of silver and 2 billion pounds of copper,” said Luke Russell, Hecla’s vice president of external communication. “It’s one of the largest undeveloped projects, and it’s in our neighborhood.”

The Rock Creek deposit lies about 50 miles north of Hecla’s underground Lucky Friday silver mine in Mullan, Idaho.

Hecla intends to continue advance permitting of the Rock Creek project, but Russell said opening the mine remains years away.

This summer, the Forest Service will release a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the project. The permitting process could take several more years, and it would be followed by three years of underground exploration work.

Russell said Hecla has experience working in environmentally sensitive areas. The company’s Greens Creek mine in Alaska is in the Admiralty Island National Monument, home to a large population of grizzly bears.

As part of the sale agreement, Hecla also will acquire, close and reclaim Revett’s nearby Troy silver mine. Revett put that mine into care and maintenance in January.

The Rock Creek project has been undertaken by many other mining companies following the discovery of potentially rich ore deposits 51 years ago that lie beneath what is now the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.

Hecla, based in Coeur d’Alene, is one of the nation’s oldest mining companies and this week celebrated 50 years of inclusion on the New York Stock Exchange.

John Shanahan, the CEO of Revett, said Hecla brings the needed money and technical capabilities to develop and mine the Rock Creek deposit.