These juniors have gains ahead

Article Excerpt

HECLA MINING $5.03 (New York symbol HL; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (208-769-4100; www.heclamining. com; Shares outstanding: 399.0 million; Market cap: $2.0 billion; Dividend yield: 0.2%) explores for, mines and processes both silver and gold in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Most of the company’s silver output comes from three sites: the Greens Creek mine in Alaska; the Lucky Friday project in Idaho; and the San Sebastian mine in Mexico. Hecla’s Casa Berardi mine in Quebec supplies its gold. In the three months ended June 30, 2017, the company’s silver output fell 33.8%, to 2.8 million ounces from 4.2 million. That decrease was because of lower ore grades at Hecla’s mines as it shifted to new deposits. A labour strike at its Lucky Friday site also lowered production. The company produced 52,561 ounces of gold in the quarter—down 16.5% from 62,965 a year earlier. Hecla started up San Sebastian in December 2015. Longer term, it aims to build another silver mine at its Montanore project…