Additonal Comments on Hecla Schedule.
I see that Hecla does quote 2200 feet, in their press release. When I talked with the company they told me 1400 feet of the 1800 feet had been completed. However, as I remember now, the 1800 feet actually just gets them to the veins so they can start exploration of them. That does not complete the decline.
The 2006 dates, in which Hecla is quoting the completion of the decline, does not stop them from exploration of the veins before that time. Also note that they are bringing in additional underground drilling equipment in October, so their underground drilling and exploration will continue for some time.
So in summary, I think that BI is correct in his information. What is important is that they currently plan to begin exploration of the veins in the early fall. Hecla has a lot more work to do to expand the decline, and to do additional drilling, to come up with an accurate and final estimation of total resources, prior to production. This will all take some time and take us well into 2006.
