Hecla Mining is a silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

 and other precious metal

Precious metal

A precious metal is a rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical element of high economic value.Chemically, the precious metals are less reactive than most elements, have high lustre, are softer or more ductile, and have higher melting points than other metals...

s mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 company based in Coeur d'Alene

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Coeur d'Alene is the largest city and county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. Coeur d'Alene has the second largest metropolitan area in the state of Idaho. As of the 2010 census the population of Coeur...

, Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

. The company employs approximately 870 people and owns the Lucky Friday unit in northern Idaho, the San Sebastian

San Sebastián del Oeste

San Sebastián del Oeste is a town and municipality, located on the western part of Jalisco state, Mexico, between 20°39’45’’ - 21°02’30’’ N and 104°35’00’’ - 104°51’00’’ W, at a height of 1,480 metres .-Borders:...

 unit in the state of Durango

Durango

Durango officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico. With a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and the Greens Creek unit (70% of which was acquired from Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto Group

The Rio Tinto Group is a diversified, British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto river, in Huelva, Spain from the...

 in 2008 to take full ownership), near Juneau, Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

.

Hecla Mining was founded in 1891.

In February 2009 the company was valued at approximately 260 million dollars. The stock price ranged from 99 cents to $13.14 over the January 2008 to January 2009 period and was trading at $1.50 February 24, 2009. Hecla produced 8.7 million ounces of silver in 2008.

Operations

Hecla negotiated a $65.6 million underwriting share purchase agreement with Canaccord Capital Corp. and Canaccord Adams in 2009. The investing companies will purchase 32 million units of Hecla for $2.05 per unit as well as warrants for additional shares. The proceeds will be used to pay back a $40 million bridge loan. and to reschedule all 2009 term debt payments to 2010 and 2011.

Metal prices dropped sharply as the current financial crisis took hold, but the Denver Post reported that Hecla was continuing its explorations for silver in its "recently acquired" San Juan project near Creede, Colorado in 2009.