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When Hecla bought the Lucky Friday mine in 1964, nobody knew that one of the biggest silver deposits in North America lurked a mile below. It’s now the target of the most ambitious capital project in Hecla’s history.
As the company entered its second century, however, Lucky Friday was operating at a loss. Conventional wisdom held that the mine was done. But in 1992, Hecla embarked upon what the company’s annual report described as a “major exploration program.” A feasibility study was commissioned in January 1993. A year later, drillers shot 22,000 feet of holes and drift miners drove 6,000 feet toward the hoped-for deposit. And there it was. By the end of 1998, Lucky Friday produced 4.1 million ounces of silver for the year. In August 2011, Hecla’s board approved construction of the #4 Shaft. Designed to provide even deeper access to the deposit, it will
take miners nearly 9,500 feet beneath the surface – and potentially extend the mine life by several decades.
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Right: A drill core sample from underground definition drilling at the Lucky Friday mine. Facing page: Miners in Lucky Friday’s Silver
Shaft skip prepare to unload.