Hecla wins innovation award for new Lucky Friday mining method

Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) received the 2022 Robert E Murray Innovation Award for its pioneering work on the underhand closed bench (UCB) mining method used at its Lucky Friday silver mine in Idaho. The Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) makes the award annually to recognize operations that implement cutting-edge technologies and innovative processes to advance the mining industry.

According to Hecla, UCB is an innovative, patent-pending method designed to control the release of seismic energy to improve miner safety and boost productivity in deep narrow vein mining.

The method calls for drilling blastholes 7.3 metres deep along a 76.2-metre horizontal length of the stope floor. Each blast fractures more than 9,000 tonnes. Hecla says over 90% of the seismic energy is released over 12 hours. Traditional cut and fill methods continue to release seismic energy over a 10-week period. The blast pattern results in 100 times more broken ore than previous cut and fill methods. Ore is mucked out in three layers – first the drill cut and then two additional cuts – until the stope floor is reached. The stope receives cemented fill after each layer is mucked out.

UCB has been used at Lucky Friday since 2020, giving the mine its best safety record ever. Production has risen 150% since its introduction.

“Hecla is honoured to receive this prestigious award for our invention of this new mining method,” said Hecla president and CEO Phillips S. Baker, Jr. in a keynote speech to SME members. “Using the UCB at the Lucky Friday mine has dramatically increased both safety and productivity at this 80-year-old mine achieving safety and production records in 2022. With the mine’s increasing grades combined with higher production and improved safety, I am convinced the best decade of the Lucky Friday is ahead of it.”

The Lucky Friday mine began production in 1942, and in 2022 output was 4.4 million oz. of silver as well as 58.5 million lb. of zinc.

See Hecla’s YouTube video about the UCB mining method.