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Around the time Hecla was founded, the mining industry began making tremendous advances in safety and productivity: from steam to electrical power, from black powder and nitroglycerin to dynamite, from the two- man double jack and hand steel to stoper drills. Those advances continue today.
Hecla itself can rightfully claim some firsts: the first mine in the country to deliver paste and mine under backfill (as well as the first paste-fill operation in the Western Hemisphere), the Silver Valley’s first circular concrete shaft, the early adoption of the dry-stack method of tailings management. And that culture of continuous innovation continues today with the sinking of the deepest underground shaft in the United States.
Much of the company’s progress and innovation over
the years has come from the desire not only for more production, but also – and more importantly – for a safer workplace. Throughout mining’s history, underground miners have been physically connected to their tools, whether it was the double jack, the stoper drill, or the jackleg. But the future promises something completely different, with the possibility of operators at the surface controlling multiple machines deep underground: quiet, battery-powered machines that produce no emissions – thus reducing refrigeration and ventilation requirements.
Few properties illustrate Hecla’s innovative, forward- thinking approach to deep underground mining better than the Lucky Friday.
Back in 1984, Hecla built the 6,000-foot, cylindrical, concrete-lined Silver Shaft – the first of its kind in the Silver Valley.
Then there’s the technique, borrowed from Sweden, called “upside-down mining.” Coeur d’Alene District mines typically followed the traditional practice of developing on 200-foot levels. After finishing a level, miners would drop 200 feet through native rock via a shaft or a raise, then mine up to the level they’d just completed. The problem: they were exposed to native rock over their heads. Hecla first applied upside-down mining at the Star mine in 1980, then, partnering with the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the University of Idaho,
developed what would eventually be called Lucky Friday Underhand Longwall in 1985. The concept behind upside-down mining was to mine underneath the 200- foot pillar, supporting the ground with an engineered backfill product: reinforced concrete, which is far more predictable than native rock. The technique has gained traction elsewhere in the industry. Variations are now
in use at the Galena lead mine in northern Idaho’s Silver Valley, and at Stillwater Mining Company’s platinum- mining complex in Columbus, Montana.
But it’s not about standing on former achievements. There exists at Hecla a long-term goal to use technological advancements toward improving the safety and economics at every one of the company’s operations – both new technologies and those that already exist within the industry.
In 2015, Hecla’s Information Technology group began working to improve capabilities in wireless data- gathering and communication within the mines. That technology will enable us to monitor underground operations, including equipment, mine environment, and personnel to better evaluate, track, and optimize performance. We’ll be able to monitor various gases, ventilation, pumps, and electricity from a control center at the surface – or, really, from anywhere on Earth – to ensure the safety of Hecla’s workers. But it’s not just monitoring; it’s also the ability to make adjustments remotely. Once this system is in place and operational, fans, air doors, pumps, any piece of equipment can be controlled from any location.
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MINING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
MUCH OF THE COMPANY’S PROGRESS AND INNOVATION OVER THE YEARS HAS COME FROM THE DESIRE NOT ONLY FOR MORE PRODUCTION, BUT ALSO — AND MORE IMPORTANTLY — FOR
A SAFER WORKPLACE.