Hecla Files Technical Report for Casa Berardi

COEUR D'ALENE, ID, April 4, 2014 /CNW/ - Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) (Hecla or the Company) announced that it has filed in Canada a National Instrument 43-101 technical report for its 100% owned Casa Berardi mine, entitled "Technical Report on the Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Estimates for the Casa Berardi Mine, Northwestern Québec, Canada" dated March 31, 2014. The report has been filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, the website maintained by the Canadian Securities Administrators.

About Hecla

Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) is a leading low-cost U.S. silver producer with operating mines in Alaska and Idaho, and is a growing gold producer with an operating mine in Quebec, Canada. The Company also has exploration and pre-development properties in five world-class silver and gold mining districts in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and an exploration office and investments in early-stage silver exploration projects in Canada.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release and the Technical Report referred to above may contain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the applicable United States and Canadian securities legislation, including, but not limited to, statements with respect to the future price of gold, the estimation of mineral reserves and resources, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, development of new deposits, exploration results, permitting time lines, government regulation of mining operations and environmental risks.  Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof.  Forward-looking statements are based on the then current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about Hecla's business and the industry and markets in which it operates, that, if untrue, could cause the actual results, performances or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous factors and assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which Hecla will operate in the future, including the price of gold, anticipated costs and ability to achieve goals.

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, metal price volatility, discrepancies between actual and estimated production, mineral reserves, mineral resources and metallurgical recoveries, litigation, regulatory, environmental and title risks, mining and operating risks, project development risks, political risks, global economic risks, labor issues, ability to raise financing and exploration risks and results. Refer to Hecla's Form 10-K and 10-Q reports for a more detailed discussion of factors that may impact expected future results.

Although Hecla has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and accordingly are subject to change after such date. Hecla does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are included in this document, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Cautionary Statements to Investors on Reserves and Resources

Reporting requirements in the United States for disclosure of mineral properties are governed by the SEC and included in the SEC's Securities Act Industry Guide 7, entitled "Description of Property by Issuers Engaged or to be Engaged in Significant Mining Operations" (Guide 7). However, the Company is also a "reporting issuer" under Canadian securities laws, which require estimates of mineral resources and reserves to be prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101). NI 43-101 requires all disclosure of estimates of potential mineral resources and reserves to be disclosed in accordance with its requirements. Such Canadian information has been included to satisfy the Company's "public disclosure" obligations under Regulation FD of the SEC and to provide U.S. holders with ready access to information publicly available in Canada.

Reporting requirements in the United States for disclosure of mineral properties under Guide 7 and the requirements in Canada under NI 43-101 standards are substantially different. The Technical Report contains a summary of certain estimates of the Company, not only of proven and probable reserves within the meaning of Guide 7, which requires the preparation of a "final" or "bankable" feasibility study demonstrating the economic feasibility of mining and processing the mineralization using the three-year historical average price for any reserve or cash flow analysis to designate reserves and that the primary environmental analysis or report be filed with the appropriate governmental authority, but also of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates estimated in accordance with the definitional standards of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum referred to in NI 43-101. The terms "measured resources", "indicated resources," and "inferred resources" are Canadian mining terms as defined in accordance with NI 43-101. These terms are not defined under Guide 7 and are not normally permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with the SEC in the United States, except where required to be disclosed by foreign law, as is the case here. The term "resource" does not equate to the term "reserve". Under Guide 7, the material described in the Technical Report as "indicated resources" and "measured resources" would be characterized as "mineralized material" and is permitted to be disclosed in tonnage and grade only, not ounces. The category of "inferred resources" is not recognized by Guide 7. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the mineral deposits in such categories will ever be converted into proven or probable reserves. "Resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of such a "resource" will ever be upgraded to a higher category or will ever be economically extracted. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of a "resource" exists or is economically or legally mineable. Investors are also especially cautioned that the mere fact that such resources may be referred to in ounces of silver and/or gold, rather than in tons of mineralization and grades of silver and/or gold estimated per ton, is not an indication that such material will ever result in mined ore which is processed into commercial silver or gold.

SOURCE Hecla Mining Company