Name: Lucky Friday mine.

Location: The project is located in the Coeur d’Alene mining district, in northern Idaho, in the US.

Mine Owner/s: Hecla Mining Company.

Brief Description: Lucky Friday is a deep underground silver, lead, and zinc mine and is Hecla’s fasted growing operation.

Brief History: The mine began operating in 1942 and celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2017.

Primary Metals/Minerals: Silver.

Secondary Metals/Minerals: Zinc and lead.

Geology/Mineralisation: There have been two ore-bearing structures mined at the Lucky Friday operation. 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 up to 2 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 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, a subsidiary of Hecla Mining. In 1991, several mineralised structures containing some high-grade silver ores in an area known as the Gold Hunter property were discovered, about 1 500 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 and probable reserves as at December 31, 2019, were estimated 5.57-million tons grading 14.4 oz/t silver, 9.1% lead and 4% zinc.

Resources: Total measured and indicated resources as at December 31, 2019, were estimated at 10.78-million tons grading 7.6 oz/t silver, 4.9% lead and 2.6% zinc. Inferred resources were estimated at 3.05-million tons grading 8.6 oz/t silver, 6.2% and 2.7% zinc.

Mining Method: The principal mining method at the Lucky Friday unit is ramp access, cut-and-fill. This method uses rubber-tired equipment to access the veins through ramps developed outside of the orebody. Once a cut is taken along the strike of the vein, it is backfilled with cemented tailings and the next cut is accessed, either above or below, from the ramp system.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The mine features a 1 000 t/d of ore mill, which produces lead and zinc concentrates. These concentrates are currently shipped for treatment by truck to Teck Cominco Metals’ smelter in Trail, in British Columbia, in Canada. The coarse mill tailing is mixed with cement and used as backfill. Production is undertaken by ramps and transfers, and substantially uses jumbo drills, mechanised mining, and truck haulage to the Silver shaft. Access to the underground workings is through the 6-m-diameter, concrete lined, Silver shaft.

Prospects: Hecla aims to access more resources to further extend the mine life at Lucky Friday. The miner believes that 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.

Contact Details:
Hecla Mining
Tel +1208 769 4100
Email hmc-info@hecla-mining.com
Website https://www.hecla-mining.com