(Kitco News) - Phillips J. Baker, CEO of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL), highlighted the company’s 2022 acquisition of Alexco Resource Corp. and its Keno Hill mine in the Yukon.
In mid-January Baker spoke to Kitco Mining at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference 2024. In its investor presentation, Hecla Mining says it is the largest silver producer in the U.S. and is positioned to become the largest in Canada, too, as Yukon operations grow.
“[The Yukon asset] is an amazing orebody, and the exploration that we're seeing there is everything that we imagined,” Baker said. “I think this is going to be an incredible mining district, it already is but it's going to be even greater, it's a 200-million-ounce district and we don’t know what the limit is going to be.”
Keno Hill produces silver, lead and zinc concentrates, and includes five deposits — Bellekeno, Lucky Queen, Flame & Moth, Onek and Bermingham. The fully permitted property with infrastructure boasts a 400 tonne-per-day mill, on-site camp facility, all-season highway access from Whitehorse, and connection to the Yukon Energy hydropower grid.
Hecla’s three other operating mines are Greens Creek in Alaska, Lucky Friday in Idaho, and Casa Berardi in Quebec. Last year Hecla invested $10 million in Dolly Varden Silver (TSXV:DV), upping its stake from 10.6 to 15.7 percent. Dolly Varden’s flagship Kitsault Valley project is located within British Columbia’s Golden Triangle region.
Baker said the company is also looking at expanding into Latin America.
“We recognize for us to grow quicker we need to be in either Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, so we're actively looking at opportunities in each of those jurisdictions.”
Asked about silver as a critical mineral, Baker pointed out the Energy Information Agency (EIA) recently came out with a report saying that 75% of installed renewable energy in 2023 was solar, about 350 gigawatts, which implies almost 190 million ounces of silver.
“Call it 15-16 percent of total demand for silver, so that need for silver for solar is being recognized and it's something we're trying to get communicated more broadly,” he said.
Coverage of the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference 2024 was sponsored by Snowline Gold.