Stonegate Capital Partners Initiates Coverage on Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL)

DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / December 7, 2017 / Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL):

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Hecla Mining Company is a leading precious metals producer specializing in silver and gold mining. The Company discovers, acquires, develops and produces unrefined precipitate and bullion bars (doré), which is further refined and sold to precious metals traders, as well as lead, zinc and bulk concentrates sold to custom smelters and brokers. Hecla operates silver mines in Alaska, Idaho, and Mexico, as well as a gold mine in Quebec, Canada. The Company has grown through acquisitions over the years and also has an active exploration and development program in place to grow its reserve levels for future production throughout North America. Hecla was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and has a sister office in Vancouver, B.C. The Company employs approximately 1,400 worldwide.

SUMMARY

Hecla has a defined strategy for creating value for shareholders in a competitive marketplace.

The Company focuses on long-lived, low-cost mines for its portfolio that will generate returns over decades, as opposed to just the near-term.
The mining industry for precious and base metals is highly competitive as well as highly regulated; Hecla operates in low-risk and mining-friendly jurisdictions with a North American focused asset portfolio, minimizing the geopolitical risk that some of its peers are facing abroad.
Hecla has significant reserves held by its current properties, detailing 172.3M oz. of silver, 2M oz. of gold, and sizable zinc and lead exposure as of 12/31/16; the Company is the #1 primary silver producer, #3 lead and zinc producer in the US, and #4 gold producer in Quebec.
The Company is geographically diverse, with currently 4 producing mines spread throughout the US, Canada and Mexico – Greens Creek, Lucky Friday, San Sebastian, and Casa Berardi.
Management is focused on continued exploration and development in target areas where the Company believes there are untapped reserves, with several projects underway; Hecla most recently acquired the large Rock Creek and Montanore silver and copper assets, both of which are in the permitting phase.
The Company is at the forefront of innovation and technological advancements within the mining industry; investing and creating these next-generation mines has increased output as well as reserves, improved margins, extended the lives of current mines, improved productivity, and improved safety underground for the miners, among other benefits.
Hecla has been improving its liquidity as well as leverage metrics over the past several fiscal years, alongside record revenue in 2016 of $646M from a record 46.1M oz. AgEq. production.

Significant upside exists as the Company has just recently brought the #4 Shaft at Lucky Friday online, plans to be mining underground at San Sebastian by early 2018 (just extended mill lease through 2020), and is in the permitting process for Rock Creek and Montanore projects in Montana, not far from current operations, with inferred resources more than double Hecla’s current 2P silver reserves.
While the Lucky Friday miners are currently on strike (since March 2017), Hecla is using the time to make improvements to the mine and plans for the future; management plans to have Lucky Friday become an advanced mine capable of running more productively through coming innovations.

We believe that certain catalysts could drive share price appreciation for HL investors, including, but not limited to: ending of the strike at Lucky Friday, increases in gold, silver, lead and zinc pricing, the transition to underground mining at San Sebastian with higher grade discoveries, further progress with permitting for Rock Creek and Montanore, as well as continued increases in the level of Hecla’s reserves. See the full report for details.

The full report can be accessed by clicking on the following link:

http://www.stonegateinc.com/reports/HL_DEC_2017_Final_v2.pdf

About Stonegate Capital Partners

Stonegate Capital Partners is a Dallas-based corporate advisory firm dedicated to serving the specialized needs of small-cap public companies. Since our inception, our mission has been to find innovative, undervalued public companies for our network of leading institutional investors who seek high-quality investment opportunities.

SOURCE: Stonegate Capital Partners

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