Hecla Mining Co (HL)

[Edge83]

Hecla Reports 17.2 Million Ounces of Silver and 233,929 Ounces of Gold Production in 2016

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) today announced preliminary silver and gold production results¹ for the fourth quarter and full year 2016 that exceeded the Company’s expectations.

2016 HIGHLIGHTS (compared to 2015)

Silver production of 17.2 million ounces, a 48% increase.
Gold production of 233,929 ounces, a 24% increase.
Silver equivalent production of 46.1 million ounces, or gold equivalent production of more than 631,000 ounces, a 23% increase.2
Lead production increased 6% and zinc production decreased 2%.
Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of approximately $198 million at December 31, 2016, an increase of about $43 million for the year.

“The 17.2 million ounces of silver produced and the 46 million silver equivalent ounces produced mark the third consecutive year we have broken our 125-year production record, a result of our strategy of investing in organic growth,” said Phillips S. Baker, Jr., Hecla’s President and CEO. “Through the down cycle we continued to build our production capacity with the start up of San Sebastian, the development of the pit at Casa Berardi and the construction of the #4 Shaft at Lucky Friday. The performance of these investments plus the ongoing strong performance of Greens Creek allowed Hecla to generate substantial cash flows this year and we expect well into the future.”

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http://seekingalpha.com/pr/16709311-hecla-reports-17_2-million-ounces-silver-233929-ounces-gold-production-2016