Name: Lucky Friday mine.

Location: The Lucky Friday mine is located about 1.61 km east of Mullan, in Shoshone County, North Idaho, US.

Controlling Company: Hecla Mining.

Brief History: Since 1958, Hecla Mining has owned and operated the Lucky Friday mine. The company acquired 100% of the Gold Hunter deposit, also known as the Lucky Friday expansion area, from Independence Lead Mines Company in 2008.

Brief Description: A deep underground silver, lead, and zinc mine.

Mining Method: All production is by underground methods, which include underhand and overhand mining.

Products: Silver, lead and zinc.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Production at Lucky Friday is through ramps and transfers, with substantial use of jumbo drills, mechanised mining and truck haulage to the Silver shaft. Access to the underground workings is through the 5.5-m-diameter, concrete-lined, Silver shaft.

The mine has a full surface facility complete, with a 1 000 t/d ore mill, which produces lead and zinc concentrates that are shipped to Teck Cominco Metals’ smelter in Trail, British Columbia, Canada.

Geology/Mineralisation: Two ore-bearing structures have been mined at Lucky Friday. The first, mined until 2001, was the Lucky Friday vein, a fissure vein typical of many in the Coeur d’Alene mining district. The orebody is located in the Revett formation, which is known to provide excellent host rocks for several orebodies in the Coeur d’Alene mining district. The Lucky Friday vein strikes north-easterly and dips steeply to the south, with an average width of 1.8 m to 2.1 m. Its principal ore minerals are galena and tetrahedrite, with minor amounts of sphalerite and chalcopyrite. The ore occurs as a single continuous orebody in and along the Lucky Friday vein. The major part of the orebody has extended from the 366 m level to and below the 1 835 m level.

The second ore-bearing structure, known as the Lucky Friday expansion area, is located in the Wallace formation. It has been mined since 1997 pursuant to an operating agreement with Silver Hunter Mining Company, Hecla’s wholly owned subsidiary. During 1991, Hecla discovered several mineralised structures, containing some high-grade silver ores in the Gold Hunter property, about 1524 m north-west of the then existing Lucky Friday workings. This discovery led to the development of the Gold Hunter property on the 4900 level.

Reserves: Total proven reserves as at December 31, 2012, were 2.2-million tons, with a grading of 12.1 oz/t silver, 2.7% zinc and 7.4% lead. Probable reserves were estimated at 1.93-million tons, with a grading of 14.8 oz/t silver, 3.2% zinc and 8.7% lead.

Resources: Total indicated resources as at December 31, 2012, were 19.02-million tons, with a grading of 5.7 oz/t silver, 2.3% zinc and 3.8% lead. Inferred resources were estimated at 6.92-million tons, with a grading of 9.1 oz/t silver, 2.3% zinc and 5.6% lead.

Prospects: Hecla believes only one-third of the tons and one-half of the ounces that are contained underground at Lucky Friday are in the current mine life and that great organic growth opportunities exist at the mine.

Meanwhile, a mine optimisation study is under way at Lucky Friday to establish the efficient rate of mining to determine the potential size of a mill expansion. All the expansion work that has been completed to date is constrained by the mill capacity. This study takes the mill out of the equation. The optimisation study will be determined by the limits of ventilation, hoisting capacity and rock mechanics. These various potential constraints will ultimately determine the size of the mill.

Contact Person: Corporate communications coordinator Jeanne DuPont.

Contact Details:
Hecla Mining, tel +1 208 769 4100, fax +1 208 769 7612, and website http://www.hecla-mining.com

.