Hecla Greens Creek silver output rebounds
BY NORTH OF 60 MINING NEWS SPECIAL TO THE ALASKA MINER Hecla Greens Creek Mine crews were able to access higher-grade ore during the fourth quarter, which resulted in a 23 percent increase in silver production over the previous three months. Hecla Mining Company Jan. 13 re - ported that its Greens Creek Mine in Southeast Alaska produced 9.2 mil - lion ounces of silver during 2021, a 12 percent drop from the 10.5 mil - lion ounces produced the prior year. This drop was largely due to min- ing easier to access but lower-grade ore because of manpower challenges around mid-year.
Despite the challenges and ma- jor jump in production at Hecla’s Lucky Friday Mine in Idaho, Greens Creek accounted for 71 percent of the company’s silver production during 2021. Overall, Hecla’s four operating mines — Greens Creek, Lucky Friday, Casa Berardi in Quebec, and Nevada Operations — produced 12.9 mil - lion ounces of silver, 201,326 ounces of gold, 63,617 pounds of zinc, and 43,011 lb of lead during 2021. While the company’s gold and silver production were down due to the lower contributions of both precious metals from Greens Creek, the zinc and lead output increased with the ramping up of operations
at Lucky Friday. “Lucky Friday increased produc- tion by 75 percent over the prior year primarily because in 2021 the mine was in full production for the en- tire year. In the fourth quarter, the expected higher silver grades and benefits of the new mining meth- od delivered a 15 percent increase over the third quarter,” said Hecla Mining President and CEO Phillips Baker, Jr. “The 2020 and 2021 in - vestments helped Casa Berardi pro - duce 11 percent more gold ounces than in 2020 and 25 percent more than in the third quarter. At Greens Creek, silver grades improved after resolving the third quarter mine se- quencing issues, as a result fourth
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