Lucky Friday Mine Feasibility Study: $554M NPV Over a 17-Year Mine Life
Hecla Mining Company's Lucky Friday Mine in Shoshone County, Idaho, USA has a Feasibility Study outlining an after-tax NPV of $554M. The proposed mine plan runs 17 years.
Hecla Mining Company's Lucky Friday Mine has reported Feasibility Study results for the silver project in Shoshone County, Idaho, USA. The study headlines an after-tax net present value of $554M at a 5% discount rate. It reflects Hecla Mining Company's (HL) latest disclosed economics for the asset.
Economics. The after-tax NPV is $554M using a 5% discount rate. Economics are based on Constant US$21/oz Ag, US$0.95/lb Pb, US$1.25/lb Zn.
Production and mine plan. The project envisions an underground (mechanized underhand cut and fill and underhand closed benching with cemented paste backfill) operation. Life of mine is 17 years. Average head grade is 13.7 oz/ton Ag, 8.3% Pb, 3.3% Zn.
Resources and ownership. The company holds a 100% interest in the project. Royalties and streams: Current production zones in the LOM are not subject to any royalty to a third party/previous landowner. No royalties payable..
These figures are extracted from Hecla Mining Company's technical disclosures and reflect the most recent Feasibility Study on file. Compare this project against other developers and producers in our project economics database, and always verify the numbers against the original technical report before making any investment decision.
Reserves & Resources
| Category | Tonnage | Grade | Contained |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proven & Probable | 5.46 Mst | 13.7 oz/ton Ag, 8.3% Pb, 3.3% Zn | 74.7 Moz Ag, 452,000 tons Pb, 181,000 tons Zn |
| Category | Tonnage | Grade | Contained |
|---|---|---|---|
| Measured & Indicated | 10.50 Mst | 7.6 oz/ton Ag, 4.9% Pb, 2.5% Zn | — |
| Inferred | 5.38 Mst | 7.8 oz/ton Ag, 5.8% Pb, 2.4% Zn | — |
Our Analysis
- NPV after-tax
- $554M
higher than 59% of 34 projects we track
- Mine life
- 17yrs
- Study price assumption
- Constant US$21/oz Ag, US$0.95/lb Pb, US$1.25/lb Zn
- Spot silver today
- $61.05/oz
This is a large-cap company's project, not a junior's bet-the-company asset: the after-tax NPV of $554M sits well below the company's US$11.45B market cap, and it is one of 16 projects in the portfolio. That framing matters more than the headline number. An NPV of this size ranks higher than 59% of the 34 silver projects we track, which places it in the upper-middle of the peer group rather than at the front of it. For an investor, that rank means this is a solid, mid-pack asset inside a diversified producer, not a company-defining discovery.
The constraint is the study itself. This is a feasibility-level estimate, the build-ready document with a typical plus or minus 15% band, so the numbers carry more weight than a scoping study would. Yet against the previous 2021 feasibility study, after-tax NPV is up 0% and mine life is up 0%: four years of work and the economics have not moved. A 17-year life in Shoshone County, Idaho, a mining-friendly US jurisdiction, is a genuine positive on permitting and political risk, but flat economics across two feasibility studies suggests the asset is well understood and unlikely to surprise to the upside.
The price deck is where the tension sits. The study assumes constant US$21/oz silver, against a live spot of $61.05/oz. That gap is enormous, and it cuts both ways: it means the published NPV is built on a silver price far below today's market, so the study may understate upside if spot holds, but it also means the flat NPV versus 2021 reflects a deliberately conservative deck rather than operational stagnation. The question that decides this project is whether the company, with a market cap twenty times the NPV, chooses to fund and build a mid-pack asset when it has 15 others competing for the same capital.
Our take, benchmarked against the project economics in the Mining Stocks database. Figures are estimates drawn from company technical reports — not investment advice; always verify against the source filing.
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