"Now look at PPS charts far back as you can with HL."
Well, I followed your advice. In 2001 silver was 4.1-4.8 and HL price was 0.5-1.1. PPS recovered pretty fast (4.5-5+ in 2002 with silver still in $5 range) but the PPS is definitely correlated with silver spot and will fall sharp if silver price goes where you think it should go. In general, long term HL is not as "stable" as one can imagine. PPS rallied above $10 and dropped below $1 last 10-15 years. Of course, fundamentals have been changing significantly (acquisitions, etc.) but price of silver was a major contributor (IMO).
Don't get me wrong - I like Hecla and own some. At least, it will never go bankrupt when many other companies do.
