Hecla Mining Co. is opening an office in Idaho’s Silver Valley to keep local residents abreast of future expansions at the Lucky Friday Mine and the company’s role in environmental cleanup in the area. U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo will speak at the grand opening of the office at 10:30 a.m. Friday at 611 Bank St. in Wallace. The event is open to the public.

The Lucky Friday Mine in North Idaho was evacuated Thursday morning when a routine inspection uncovered damage to the No. 2 shaft, which serves as a secondary escape route for the underground silver mine. Mike Dexter, the mine’s general manager, said crews were being assembled to assess the damage. He didn’t know how long the mine would be shut down, but said he wasn’t expecting an extended outage.

Hecla Mining Co., which Tuesday announced what one analyst called “stellar results,” could decide next spring whether to proceed with a $150 million to $200 million expansion of its Lucky Friday Mine. President Phillips Baker Jr. said he is “highly confident” the company will launch the project, which would exploit mineral deposits below the existing mine works at Mullan, Idaho. Executives are working on cost estimates for the four- to five-year expansion, he said.

Hecla Mining Co., which Tuesday announced what one analyst called “stellar results,” could decide next spring whether to proceed with a $150 million to $200 million expansion of its Lucky Friday Mine.

BOISE – The Hecla Mining Co. has agreed to pay $177,500 in fines for violating federal clean water laws at its Lucky Friday Mine in North Idaho. The Environmental Protection Agency announced the penalty Thursday for violations related to the mine’s wastewater permit.

Hecla Mining Co. reported a loss, after dividends paid to preferred shareholders, of $40.7 million, or 24 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2008. That compared to revenue of $7.6 million, or 6 cents per share, for the fourth quarter of 2007. The Coeur d’Alene-based company also reported a net loss of $37.3 million in the fourth quarter, compared to net income of $8.2 million in the same period a year earlier.

Red Lion Hotels Corp. on Wednesday reported losses for the fourth quarter and full 2008, and projected further declines for 2009 despite some job cutbacks, a wage freeze, and a 5 percent pay reduction for salaried employees. For the quarter, the Spokane-based chain lost $3.9 million, or 22 cents per share, compared with a loss of $1.1 million, or 7 cents per share, for the 2007 quarter. Revenues declined 6.3 percent to $41.3 million.

BOISE – Hecla Mining Co., a North Idaho-based silver mining company, must pay an $85,000 penalty and buy $17,000 in emergency equipment for a local fire department after 22,500 gallons of hazardous mine tailings spilled from its lead and zinc complex near Mullan. The spill in 2006 near the Lucky Friday Mine during a period of heavy rain deposited 900 gallons of liquid mill tailings and 191 pounds of solids into the South Fork Coeur d’Alene River.

Hecla Mining Co. bought the assets of Independence Lead Mines on Thursday in a stock transaction valued at $14.2 million. Independence owned a partial interest in a silver deposit at Hecla’s Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan, Idaho. Officials said the purchase guarantees Hecla will receive all future profits from the Lucky Friday Mine. It also resolved a royalty dispute between the two companies.

Spokane-based Signature Genomic Laboratories has hired Dr. Allen Lamb to work as a lab director and help the company develop more diagnostic tools to meet growing demand for its services. Lamb has worked as a medical director at the University of Utah’s ARUP Laboratories and before that, for 16 years, at Genzyme Genetics in Santa Fe, N.M.

Scraping lead-tainted soil from yards within “The Box” – a 21-square-mile area that took the brunt of emissions from the Bunker Hill Smelter’s smokestacks – took two decades and cost more than $50 million. But the yard cleanup is officially done.

Hecla Mining Co. reported a second quarter loss of $44.4 million, or 35 cents per share. Officials attributed the loss to several one-time occurrences, including a $30.7 million loss on the sale of Venezuelan gold properties. Hecla also took a $17 million charge related to its recent purchase of the Greens Creek Mine in Alaska and put $20.3 million into capital expenditures at Greens Creek and the Lucky Friday Mine in Idaho.

Venezuela is officially taking away a gold concession that Coeur d’Alene-based Hecla Mining Co. recently sold. The company last month sold its Venezuelan subsidiaries to Rusoro Mining Ltd., of Vancouver, B.C., for $25 million.

Hecla Mining Co. has finalized the $25 million sale of its Venezuelan gold properties to Rusoro Mining Ltd. The Vancouver, B.C., firm paid Hecla $20 million in cash and $5 million in stock. Hecla’s decision to sell was prompted by rising costs at its Venezuelan mines and investors’ concerns about President Hugo Chavez’s leftist government, company officials said.

Hecla Mining Co. is selling its Venezuelan gold properties for $25 million. The Coeur d'Alene firm's decision to sell was prompted by rising costs at its Venezuelan mines, as well as investors' concerns about President Hugo Chavez's leftist government.

Hecla Mining Co. bought the world's fifth-largest silver mine Wednesday for $750 million. Hecla announced in February that it was buying the Greens Creek Mine near Juneau, Alaska. Greens Creek will nearly double the company's annual silver output, boosting company production to about 11 million ounces a year.

TUESDAY Just out of the hospital, with medical bills to pay and a Kettle Falls gift shop in need of inventory, RoseMarie McKee turned to the Internet for $5,000 that would help get her and the Silver Rose back on their feet. McKee said she thought a loan negotiated with Fairway Lending Group was the answer. It wasn't. Like dozens of other Fairway clients, the Colville resident has learned that a slick Web site and professional telephone help do not a lender make. The lesson cost her $900.

A Canadian company's request to drill 21 exploratory cores on 2 acres of central Idaho's Salmon River Mountains to search for uranium has been approved by the U.S. Forest Service. The Yankee Fork Ranger District of the Salmon-Challis National Forest last month approved the Big Hank Exploration Project proposed by Vancouver, B.C.-based Magnum Minerals USA Corp.