Hecla Completes Final Coeur d’Alene Basin Environmental Settlement Payment with Proceeds from Warrant Exercise
Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) is pleased to announce the Company has fulfilled the Coeur d’Alene Basin Environmental Settlement’s financial obligations. The final payment of $41.3 million was made today from the exercise of the remaining outstanding warrants.
“We are pleased to put this litigation completely behind us. With this final payment, we can continue our focus on growing the Company’s production and cash flow,” said Hecla’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Phillips S. Baker, Jr. “Our operations are expected to generate enough cash flow to meet all planned capital, pre-development, and exploration requirements for 2014. So our strong balance sheet with over $200 million in cash and cash equivalents and a revolving credit facility of $100 million is largely available to pursue other value-generating initiatives for our shareholders.”
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
Statements made or information provided in this news release that are not historical facts, such as 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 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. 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, litigation, regulatory and environmental 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.
Contact
Hecla Mining Company
Mike Westerlund, 1-800-HECLA91 (1-800-432-5291)
Vice President - Investor Relations
hmc-info@hecla-mining.com
