Hecla Mining Co (HL)

[Picassa]

8:03AM Hecla Mining beats by $0.08, beats on revs (HL) 2.60 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.02 per share, $0.08 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.06); revenues rose 45.9% year/year to $54.7 mln vs the $48 mln consensus. Co says, "We had a much improved first quarter with all operational benchmarks showing significant improvement compared with the second half of 2008. More tons of higher-grade material coupled with lower costs drove the results combined with some positive one-time items. We are clearly on track to hit our production and cost targets reversing the trend of rising costs experienced in 2008. Our outlook is very positive given the solid operational performance, stronger balance sheet, higher prices, and the ongoing exploration success at the Lucky Friday."