Hecla reports record silver production

Hecla Mining Co. produced a record 11.1 million ounces of silver last year and reported sales of more than $500 million, officials said today. Strong production at the company’s Greens Creek Mine in Alaska and the Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan, Idaho, helped the company’s 2014 earnings. Hecla reported fourth quarter income of $16.8 million, or 5 cents per share, compared to a loss of $3 million, or 1 cent per share, for the fourth quarter of 2013. For 2014, the company reported income of $17.3 million, or 5 cents per share, compared to a loss of $25.7 million, or 8 cents per share, in 2013. In other news, Hecla officials said a new shaft at the Lucky Friday Mine is 75 percent complete, and should be finished next year. The $215 million shaft project will allow the Coeur d’Alene-based company to access deeper ore at the underground silver mine. Production from those deeper areas should begin in 2018, after additional mine development work is done, officials said. Hecla also made a final, $55.4 million payment to the federal government in 2014, which concluded the company’s financial obligation in a Superfund settlement over historic mine waste in the Coeur d’Alene River basin.