HECLA MINING CODE
For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Feb 15, 2024.
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FY2023 · Filed Feb 15, 2024
Contents
Overview
Established in 1891, we are the oldest operating precious metals mining company in the United States. We are the largest silver producer in the United States, producing over 45% of 2022 U.S. silver production at our Greens Creek and Lucky Friday operations. We also produce gold at our Casa Berardi and Greens Creek operations. In addition, we are developing the Keno Hill mine in the Yukon Territory, Canada which we acquired in September 2022. We began ramp-up of the Keno Hill mill during the second quarter of 2023, with production commencing in June 2023. Based upon the jurisdictions in which we operate, we believe we have lower political and economic risk compared to other mining companies whose mines are located in other parts of the world. Our current exploration interests are located in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Our operating and strategic framework is based on expanding our production and locating and developing new resource potential in a safe and responsible manner.
Acquisition of ATAC Resources Ltd.
On July 7, 2023, we completed the acquisition of ATAC Resources Ltd. ("ATAC"), a Canadian publicly traded company, for total consideration of approximately $19.4 million through the issuance of 3,676,904 shares of Hecla common stock to ATAC shareholders based on the share exchange ratio of 0.0166 Hecla share for each ATAC common share, and $0.6 million of acquisition costs. The acquisition was deemed to be an asset acquisition under GAAP as substantially all of the fair value of the gross assets acquired was concentrated in a single asset group being mineral interests. The total consideration was assigned to the estimated fair values of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with $18.1 million assigned to mineral interests. As part of the acquisition, we also acquired 5,502,956 units consisting of (i) shares of Cascadia Minerals Ltd. (“Cascadia”) representing a 19.9% stake, and (ii) full warrants with a five-year term for a CAD$2 million cash investment in Cascadia. Cascadia will be managed by the former management of ATAC, who will explore specific properties in the Yukon and British Columbia. We have the right to appoint two directors to Cascadia’s board.
2023 Highlights
Operational:
Produced 14.3 million ounces of silver and 151,259 ounces of gold. See Consolidated Results of Operations below for information on total cost of sales and cash costs and AISC, after by-product credits, per silver and gold ounce for 2023, 2022 and 2021.
Keno Hill produced 1.5 million ounces of silver, with the Bermingham deposit achieving the highest mined tonnage in December; initiated a safety action plan to build a strong operational foundation at the mine.
Continued our trend of strong safety performance, as our All Injury Frequency Rate (“AIFR”) for 2023 was 1.45.
Financial:
Reported sales of $720.2 million.
Generated $75.5 million in net cash provided by operating activities. See the Financial Liquidity and Capital Resources section below for further discussion.
Made capital expenditures (excluding lease additions and other non-cash items) of approximately $223.9 million, including $70.1 million at Casa Berardi, $43.5 million at Greens Creek, $65.3 million at Lucky Friday, and $44.7 million at Keno Hill.
Returned $15.7 million to our stockholders through dividend payments.
Our average realized prices for silver, gold and lead increased in 2023 compared to 2022 while zinc decreased. Our average realized gold price increased while our realized price for silver, lead and zinc prices decreased in 2022 compared to 2021. See the Consolidated Results of Operations section below for information on our average realized metals prices for 2023, 2022 and 2021. Lead and zinc represent important by-products at our Greens Creek and Lucky Friday segments, and gold is also a significant by-product at Greens Creek.
See the Consolidated Results of Operations section below for a discussion of the factors impacting income applicable to common stockholders for the three years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021.
Key Issues Impacting our Business
Our current business strategy is to focus our financial and human resources in the following areas:
executing value enhancing transactions, such as with the recently completed ATAC acquisition;
advancing the development and ramp up of the Keno Hill mine with the anticipation of commencement of commercial production before the end of 2024;
operating our properties safely, in an environmentally responsible and cost-effective manner;
maintaining and investing in exploration and pre-development projects in the vicinities of mining districts and projects we believe to be under-explored and under-invested: Greens Creek on Alaska's Admiralty Island located near Juneau; North Idaho's Silver Valley in the historic Coeur d'Alene Mining District; the silver-producing district near Durango, Mexico; in the vicinity of our Casa Berardi mine and the Heva-Hosco project in the Abitibi region of northwestern Quebec, Canada; our projects located in two districts in Nevada; our projects in the Keno Hill mining district in the Yukon Territory, Canada; northwestern Montana; the Creede district of southwestern Colorado; the Kinskuch project in British Columbia, Canada; and the Republic Mining District in Washington state;
improving operations at each of our mines, which includes incurring costs for new technologies and equipment;
expanding our proven and probable reserves, mineral resources and production capacity at our properties;
conducting our business with financial stewardship to preserve our financial position in varying metals price and operational environments;
advancing permitting of the Libby Exploration project in Montana; and
seeking opportunities to acquire and invest in mining and exploration properties and companies.
We strive to achieve excellent mine safety and health performance. We seek to implement this goal by: training employees in safe work practices; establishing, following and improving safety standards; investigating accidents, incidents and losses to avoid recurrence; involving employees in the establishment of safety standards; and participating in the National Mining Association’s CORESafety program. We seek to implement reasonable best practices with respect to mine safety and emergency preparedness. We respond to issues outlined in investigations and inspections by MSHA, the Commission of Labor Standards, Pay Equity and Occupational Health and Safety in Quebec, the Workers' Safety and Compensation Board in the Yukon and the Mexico Ministry of Economy and Mining and continue to evaluate our safety practices. There can be no assurance that our practices will mitigate or eliminate all safety risks. Achieving and maintaining compliance with regulations will be challenging and may increase our operating costs. See Item 1A. Risk Factors - We face substantial governmental regulation, including the Mine Safety and Health Act, various environmental laws and regulations and the 1872 Mining Law.
A number of key factors may impact the execution of our strategy, including regulatory issues, metals prices and inflationary pressures on input costs. Metals prices can be very volatile and are influenced by a number of factors beyond our control (except on a limited basis through the use of derivative contracts). See Item 7. Critical Accounting Estimates and Note 10 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. While we believe longer-term global economic and industrial trends could result in continued demand for the metals we produce, prices have been volatile and there can be no assurance that current prices will continue.
Volatility in global financial markets and other factors can pose a significant challenge to our ability to access credit and equity markets, should we need to do so. We utilize forward contracts to manage exposure to declines in the prices of (i) silver, gold, zinc and lead contained in our concentrates that have been shipped but have not yet settled, and (ii) from time to time zinc and lead that we forecast for future concentrate shipments. In addition, we have in place a $150 million revolving credit agreement, with an option to be increased in an aggregate amount not to exceed $75 million. As of December 31, 2023, $6.9 million was used for letters of credit, and $128.0 million was drawn on the facility leaving approximately $15.1 million available for borrowing.
Another challenge for us is the risk associated with environmental litigation and ongoing reclamation activities. As described in Item 1A. Risk Factors and in Note 16 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, it is possible that our estimate of these liabilities (and our ability to estimate liabilities in general) may change in the future, affecting our strategic plans. We are involved in various environmental legal matters and the estimate of our environmental liabilities and liquidity needs, as well as our strategic plans, may be significantly impacted as a result of these matters or new matters that may arise. We strive to ensure that our activities are conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations and attempt to resolve environmental litigation on terms as favorable to us as possible.
Reserve and resource estimation is a major risk inherent in mining. Our reserve and resource estimates, which underlie (i) our mining and investment plans, (ii) the valuation of a significant portion of our long-term assets and (iii) depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, may change based on economic factors and actual production experience. Until ore is mined and processed, the volumes and grades of our reserves and resources must be considered as estimates. Our reserves are depleted as we mine. Reserves and resources can also change as a result of changes in economic and operating assumptions. See Item 1A. Risk Factors - Our mineral reserve and resource estimates may be imprecise.
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