Hecla Acquires Remaining 30% Interest in San Juan Silver Project

Hecla Mining Company ('Hecla?) (NYSE:HL)
is pleased to announce that is has acquired the remaining 30% interest
in the San Juan Silver project at Creede, one of Colorado′s most
prolific silver-producing districts. The San Juan Silver project has a
silver resource of approximately 37 million ounces and significant lead.
With 20 plus miles of the Bulldog, Amethyst, and Equity veins on the
property, there is potential for considerably more silver and gold
resources. The property also encompasses the Bulldog mine, Equity ramp,
and administration buildings. In addition, the Company maintains a 70%
interest in an exploration joint venture that holds ancillary
exploration property with numerous unexplored veins in the district.

The acquisition of the remaining 30% interest in the San Juan Silver
project was completed pursuant to a Purchase Sale Agreement (the
'Agreement?) between Hecla′s wholly-owned subsidiary Rio Grande Silver,
Inc. ('RGS?) and Emerald Mining & Leasing, LLC ('EML?), Golden 8 Mining,
LLC ('G8?), and AgX Resources, Inc. ('AgX?), (EML, G8, and AgX are
collectively referred to as the 'Sellers?) dated December 12, 2011. The
Sellers owned interest in certain properties which were governed by a
Joint Venture Agreement ('2008 JVA?) entered into between the RGS, EML,
and G8 on February 21, 2008. Under the terms of the Agreement, RGS
purchased the Sellers′ undivided interest in approximately 55% of the
21-square-mile property encompassing the Bulldog, Amethyst, and Equity
veins, which had previously been part of the 2008 JVA, in return for the
issuance of 5,395,683 shares of Hecla common stock. A new exploration
joint venture agreement has been established that is 70% RGS and will
cover the remaining land package that is on the east and west flanks of
the RGS property that contains less explored targets. At yesterday′s
closing share price, the transaction was valued at $33.8 million.

'This transaction is another step towards increasing our interest in
district-sized land packages and silver production growth
opportunities,? said Phil Baker, President and Chief Executive Officer.
'The San Juan Silver project offers tremendous upside and has progressed
much quicker than we had anticipated. In the last six months, we
received the permit to construct the new Bulldog decline to the mine
workings, rehabilitated the Equity ramp and commenced the underground
drilling program on the silver-gold targets in the Equity and Amethyst
veins.?

ABOUT HECLA

Established in 1891, Hecla Mining Company is the largest and lowest cash
cost silver producer in the U.S. The company has two operating mines and
exploration properties in four world-class silver mining districts in
the U.S. and Mexico.

Cautionary Statements

Statements made which are not historical facts, such as strategies,
plans, anticipated payments, litigation outcome (including settlement
negotiations), production, sales of assets, exploration results and
plans, costs, and prices or sales performance are 'forward-looking
statements' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Words such as 'may?, 'will?, 'should?, 'expects?,
'intends?, 'projects?, 'believes?, 'estimates?, 'targets?, 'anticipates?
and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those projected, anticipated, expected or implied. These risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, metals price volatility,
volatility of metals production and costs, environmental and litigation
risks, operating risks, project development risks, political risks,
labor issues, ability to raise financing and exploration risks and
results. Refer to the company's Form 10-K and 10-Q reports for a more
detailed discussion of factors that may impact expected future results.
The company undertakes no obligation and has no intention of updating
forward-looking statements other than as may be required by law.

Cautionary Statements to Investors on Reserves and Resources

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission permits mining
companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only those mineral
deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce.
We use certain terms on this release, such as 'resource,? 'other
resources,? and 'mineralized materials? that the SEC guidelines strictly
prohibit us from including in our filings with the SEC. U.S. investors
are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 10-K and Form
10-Q. You can review and obtain copies of these filings from the SEC′s
website at www.sec.gov.

For further information, please contact:

Hecla Mining Company

M?lanie Hennessey

Vice President ?
Investor Relations

Direct: 604-694-7729

Direct Main:
800-HECLA91 (800-432-5291)

hmc-info@hecla-mining.com

www.hecla-mining.com