Can you give an update on Hecla Mining’s Casa Berardi operation?

Hecla Mining is subject to the fires raging through Québec, but fortunately, we have not had any incidents at our Casa Berardi site. They now have control over the fires, however, there is concern about another heatwave, new fires, and then being able to manage resources, and thus mining operations in Québec have been shut down again. We are fortunate that when they are ready to lift the shutdown, our site will be in front of the queue as we are on an isolated forest road that is 60 feet wide, we have water trucks to water down the road if necessary, and there is no significant vegetation around the mine itself. Unfortunately, the shutdown does put a damper on our production for this quarter of the year, and it will have a big impact on us. We will update production at Casa Berardi with the Q2 release in August, and the impact of the shutdown is still to be seen. Regarding Québec, our capital allocation and focus will remain on Casa Berardi for 2023.

How important is Québec overall for Hecla’s footprint in North America?

Québec represents approximately 35% of our revenue. Our operations in Québec are in the gold space, whereas all other operations are in silver and base metals, in some cases a bit of gold. Hecla is primarily a silver company, but having gold production in Québec gives us diversification.

What is Hecla’s strategy to become Canada's number one silver producer?

Hecla is developing the Keno Hill silver mine in Yukon, which will go into production in Q3 2023. We expect to produce approximately 2.5 million oz in 2023, ramping up to 4 million or maybe even 5 million oz/y in 2024. As a result, we will be producing approximately 40% of all the silver produced in Canada.

What makes Québec a unique mining jurisdiction in North America?

Mining is an important industry for Québec and there is significant government and community support. Geologically, Québec is extremely well endowed. Hecla continues to look for growth opportunities along the Casa Berardi Fault, as well as the Cadillac-Larder Lake Fault, where our advanced-stage Heva-Hosco exploration property is located.

What are the factors Hecla takes into consideration when looking at acquiring juniors?

As part of Hecla’s growth strategy, we are looking at M&A and deal-making opportunities, especially projects that are close to Casa Berardi in particular. Hecla first looks at geology as, at the end of the day, it fundamentally starts with the reserves, resources, and exploration opportunities. Secondly, we will look at the land package and how much space they have. Thirdly, we will start to figure out how economical the geology is.

Is Hecla leveraging any new technologies to optimize operations at Casa Berardi?

For the last six years, Hecla has been using automated trucks at the Casa Berardi mine for haulage. An operator at the surface pushes a button, and the material is loaded into the truck. The truck then drives much faster than a person could drive it as it is more consistent in the small passageway, and unloads the material, which then gets automatically hoisted to the surface.

How do you see silver and gold performing in the near term?

It is extremely hard to predict the prices of commodities, particularly commodities like gold that do not have a fundamental industrial demand. Silver, however, has many industrial uses, and it is an energy transition metal, for example, in solar panels, wind turbines, and EVs. The bushings on wind turbines are silver, and EVs have approximately 50% more silver in them than conventional cars. The silver market today is approximately 1.2 billion oz/y. In light of the energy transition, the demand for silver for the EV market has grown to approximately 50 million oz/y and for the solar market, it is approximately 140 million oz/y, with a compound annual growth rate of 11% over the past 5 years. It is forecasted that over the next few decades, the demand for silver from the solar market will increase to approximately 0.5 billion oz/y.