The deposits of the Coeur d’Alene District, including Lucky Friday, are classified by Beaudoin and Sangster (1996) as clastic metasediment-hosted vein silver-lead-zinc deposits. In addition to Coeur d’Alene, the world’s most prolific silver district, this deposit type embraces a number of historical mining localities including the Harz Mountains and Freiberg in Germany, Keno Hill and Kokanee Range in Canada, and Príbram in the Czech Republic. They are typified by the following general characteristics:
- Hosted in thick, monotonous sequences of fine- to medium-grained clastic sedimentary rocks transected by deep-seated regional-scale faulting;
- Sedimentary basins occur in a wide range of tectonic environments, but all have been subject to deformation, intrusion, and regional metamorphism, typically greenschist facies;
- Economic minerals are predominantly galena and sphalerite with minor accessory pyrite and a wide range of sulphosalt minerals including tetrahedrite, pyrargyrite, stephanite, bournonite, acanthite, and native silver;
- Gangue minerals typically comprise siderite and quartz with lesser amounts of dolomite or calcite ;
- Comparatively low gold content;
- Temperature of sulphide mineral deposition in the range of 250°C to 300°C;
- Hydrothermal alteration constrained to a few metres of the veins and characterized by sericite, silicification, and pyrite.

The signature for all economic deposits discovered within the Coeur d’Alene District is vein-like morphology hosted within the meta-sediments of the Belt Super Group. In the Lucky Friday Complex, as well as other sub-districts in the Coeur d’Alene District, veins occur as branching fissures that cross-cut or invade the sedimentary bedding or host rocks. Previous studies have indicated the veins are mesothermal origin (Leach, 1982). The vein structures are known to branch, split or bifurcate, forming duplexing and anastomosing geometries. The majority of veins strike west-northwest, are steeply- dipping, elongated down-dip and can have strike lengths over 4,000 ft and dip lengths over 8,000 ft (Hobbs et al., 1965).

The Lucky Friday deposits are fissure-hosted silver-lead-zinc veins typical of the Coeur d’Alene District. Principal vein systems are the Lucky Friday and Gold HunterVeins. Economic mineralization consists of silver-bearing galena and tetrahedrite, with relatively minor amounts of sphalerite and chalcopyrite. These minerals occur in veins, fracture-fillings, and disseminations along with accessory pyrite and a gangue of iron carbonate (siderite), calcite, and quartz. Mineralization is strongly structurally controlled with a significant influence from the competency of the wall rocks. Ore bodies are best developed where faults and fractures intersect more siliceous and competent lithologies, and are less likely to occur in the comparatively incompetent argillites.

Lucky Friday Vein
Wall rock alteration consists of a weak carbonate zonation. Calcite dominates in areas distal to the mineralization that gives way to ankerite as the vein is approached and then is altered to siderite closer to the vein system. The geometry of this alteration depends upon wall rock porosity and permeability. Iron and magnesium in fluids flowing out from the vein systems altered the original calcite. Some host rocks contain dolomite, which compromises the alteration pattern. This alteration can be seen for distances of more than 300 ft from vein systems depending upon bedding orientations to the vein source. Additionally, disseminations of sulfide extend some distance into host stratigraphy. This sulfide material usually consists of galena, sphalerite, and tetrahedrite.

The Lucky Friday Vein has an economic strike length of up to 1,500 ft. The vein is a high-angle south-southeast dipping vein that varies from inches to as much as 20 ft in width. The average varies from four to six ft over the full economic length.

The source for this mineralization is current unclear. The Lucky Friday Vein is connected with the NCF and SCF, which are mineralized locally. These may have been the major structural controls, enabling mineralizing fluids to flow into the host fissure, which eventually became the vein.

The vein consists of both gangue and sulfide mineralization. It contains quartz and siderite with lesser amounts of pyrite and arsenopyrite. Ore minerals include argentiferous galena, sphalerite, and local tetrahedrite.

Mineral textures vary. Gangue minerals are often cataclastic for quartz and siderite with milling evidenced by rounded mineral grains. Quartz and siderite “eyes” are common in Lucky Friday ores. Sulfide textures vary from very fine-grained to coarse-crystalline.

A simplified paragenesis begins with early quartz carbonate, plus or minus sericite and pyrite, followed by sphalerite, and then by tetrahedrite and argentiferous galena.

Gold Hunter Vein System
Gold Hunter historic mining extending from the surface at +4,700 ft MSL elevation to the 4900 level at -1,510 ft MSL elevation demonstrates grade trends and variability. The vein zones are stacked and parallel to sub-parallel with often ill-defined mineralized lenses. The historic surface mining had bulk resource grades of 4.1oz/ton Ag and 3.9% Pb in three main lenses. On the 4050 level at the -675 ft MSL elevation there were five lenses at a bulk grade of 9.1 oz/ton Ag, 4.1% Pb, and 1.3%Zn. At 4900 level (-1,510 MSL) there are ten lenses at a bulk grade of 9.6 oz/ton Ag, 5.4% Pb, and 2.3% Zn.

Mine geologists report that silver, lead, and zinc bulk grades generally increase with depth. Lead and zinc content increases slightly relative to silver.

There are currently 101 definable, parallel veins identified in the Gold Hunter system. These vary in width and grade with the most productive being the 30-Vein. This vein has the greatest value, width, and economic length when compared to the other Gold Hunter veins. The 30-Vein averages more than four ft in width as a composite of closely spaced veins and veinlets. It strikes N83W and dips 80°S to vertically. The economic vein length is approximately 2,300 ft. This vein has yielded a significant percentage of total Lucky Friday Unit production since 1997 and has been largely mined out down to approximately 6000 level. The other “Intermediate” veins have shorter strike lengths and generally narrower widths. The distribution of silver, lead, and zinc varies randomly for each vein. Production from Intermediateveins is in the LOM plan and is anticipated to contribute proportionally more to the overall mill feed as time progresses.

As with Lucky Friday, the source of the Gold Hunter mineralization is not fully understood. The Gold Hunter zone’s downward projection eventually reaches an intersection with the Independence Fault, which hosted the Star Mine mineralization. Lucky Friday geologists consider that this fault may be the source structure for the Gold Hunter mineralization, forming a conduit whereby fluids moved along reactivated axial plane cleavage to form the deposit.

Individual vein constituents vary but a typical vein contains quartz and siderite with lesser amounts of pyrite and barite. Ore minerals include argentiferous galena, sphalerite, and local tetrahedrite. There are also minor amounts of other sulfosalts, including pyrargyrite (ruby silver), bournonite, and boulangerite.

Mineral textures vary. Gangue mineral textures are often cataclastic for siderite and local quartz. Sulfide textures vary from locally coarse crystalline galena to fine-grained steel galena. Very fine-grained sheared galena is observed to be more silver-rich that coarser-grained variants. Sphalerite textures range from medium crystalline to fine-grained and is generally lower in iron content relative to the Lucky Friday Mine sphalerite.

The mine is a shaft access deep mine developed to the 8300 level (feet below surface). Mining is mainly by rubber tired mechanized equipment with the primary mining by underhand stoping with paste backfill.

In 2021, Lucky Friday tested and proved the UCB mining method. The Underhand Closed Bench (UCB) method is a new, productive mining method developed by Hecla for proactive control of fault-slip seismicity in deep, high-stress, narrow-vein mining. The method uses bench drilling and blasting methods to fragment significant vertical and lateral extentsof the vein beneath a top cut taken along the strike of the vein and under engineered, cemented backfill. The method is accomplished without the use of drop raises orlower mucking drives which may result in local stress concentrations and increased exposure to seismic events. Large blasts using up to 35,000 lb of pumped emulsion and electronic, programmable detonators fragment up to 350 ft of strike length to a depth of approximately 30 ft. These large blasts proactively induce fault-slipseismicity at the time of the blast and shortly after it. This blasted corridor is then mined underhand for two cuts. As these cuts are mined, little to no blasting is done toadvance them. Dilution is controlled by supporting the hanging wall and footwall as the mining progresses through the blasted ore. The entire cycle repeats and stopingadvances downdip, under fill, and in a destressed region. The method allows for greater control of fault-lip seismic events significantly improving safety. In conjunction, a notable productivity increase has been achieved by reducing seismic delays and utilizing bulk mining activities. In 2021, 86% of the tons mined were produced through the UCB method.

The mine is serviced by two shafts to surface and an internal shaft. Broken ore is hauled by truck to the shaft and then hoisted to surface. The mine ventilation systemincludes facilities for mine air cooling.

Crushing
Run of Mine ore discharges into one of two coarse ore bins with capacities of 400 and 800 tons. The ore discharges from the bottom of the bins metered by pan feeders and a belt scale is used to control feed rate to the crushing circuit. Coarse ore is crushed in a three stage crushing plant consisting of a primary jaw crusher, a standard secondary crusher, and short head tertiary cone with a triple deck screen to close the crushing circuit. Crushing circuit operating time averages about 50 percent with an average throughput rate of 80 to 85 tons per operating hour.

The primary crusher, a 20 X 36 inch jaw crusher, reduces run of mine ore from minus 12 inch to minus 3 inch. Primary crushed ore is delivered to a triple deck vibrating screen for sizing. Coarse material is conveyed to the secondary crusher and is reduced to one inch minus in a 3 foot standard cone crusher. A magnet removes metal from the secondary feed to prevent it from damaging the crusher. The oversized material from both the middle and bottom deck of the triple deck screen is conveyed to a 3 foot short head crusher. A second magnet prevents metal from entering the short head crusher. Both the standard and short head crusher discharge returns to the triple deck screen to be reclassified. All material leaving the crusher circuit reports to a 400 ton fine ore bin with 100% passing the 3/8 inch screen. Dust from the crushing area is controlled by a bag house.

Grinding
Material from the fine ore bin is discharged by two hydraulic feeders. A feed sample is collected from a transfer point of two belts by a primary automatic cutter and then through a secondary cutter for a 12 hour shift composite sample. The fine ore then passes over a belt scale for determining feed rate to the ball mill. Fine ore, reagents, cyclone underflow, and water feed the ball mill. Overall mill operating time averages 92 percent and from 2007 to 2013 and the average annual mill feed rate ranged from 40.0 to 43.6 dry short tons per hour.

The ore is ground in one 9.5 x 12-foot ball mill driven by a 600 hp motor. Ball mill discharge combines with water, collector, and frother and then is pumped to a SK-240 Pb flash flotation unit cell. Flotation reagents are added to the flash cell tailing and the pulp is pumped to a cyclone cluster for classification. Cyclone overflow is screened to remove trash and then pumped to the Pb rougher circuit. Cyclone underflow returns to the ball mill. The cyclone overflow is typically forty percent solids with a particle size of 80 percent passing 150 microns.

The flash flotation cell is used to recover coarse fractions of Pb and Ag from the mill circulating load to minimize over grinding of the dense materials. The flash cell has proven to be capable of producing a final concentrate grade product, assaying roughly 63% Pb and 100+ oz/ton Ag. Typically around 50% of the Pb and Ag values are recovered to final concentrate through this route. Another benefit of the flash flotation unit cell is freeing up flotation capacity in the Pb circuit. When high grade ore is processed through the mill, this increased capacity is realized fully.

The Lucky Friday mill is a conventional silver and zinc flotation concentrator. The mill operates at a nominal 42 stph) and can be operated at rates of up to 54 stph for limited periods. Silver concentrate and zinc concentrate are produced. Concentrates are shipped by highway trucks to the Tecksmelter at Trail, British Columbia, Canada.

The primary unit operations in the Lucky Friday concentrator include:
- Primary jaw crushing;
- Secondary cone crushing;
- Tertiary cone crushing;
- Triple deck screen closing both secondary and tertiary crushing circuits
- Ball milling;
- Lead flash flotation with concentrate reporting to silver concentrate thickener
- Hydrocyclone classification
- Lead rougher and scavenger flotation in conventional cells
- Lead rougher scavenger concentrate to lead rougher feed;
- Lead rougher scavenger tailings to zinc conditioners;
- Lead rougher concentrate cleaning and recleaning using column flotation cells;
- Lead cleaner scavenger flotation of cleaner tailings in conventional cells followed by column cells;
- Lead cleaner scavenger and cleaner scavenger column tailings to regrind milling;
- Regrind milling closed with hydrocyclones
- Flash flotation, second cleaner column flotation and cleaner scavenger column flotation concentrates to silver concentrate thickener;
- Zinc conditioning in mixed reactors;
- Zinc flash flotation;
- Zinc rougher and scavenger flotation in conventional cells;
- Zinc rougher scavenger tailings to final tailings sump feeding sand plant;
- Zinc rougher scavenger concentrate to zinc conditioning;
- Zinc rougher concentrate cleaning and recleaning using column flotation cells;
- Zinc cleaner scavenger flotation of cleaner tailings in conventional cells followed by column cells;
- Zinc cleaner scavenger and cleaner scavenger column tailings to zinc rougher flotation;
- Flash flotation, second cleaner column flotation and cleaner scavenger column flotation concentrates to silver concentrate thickener;
- Lead and zinc concentrate thickening and filtration and concentrate storage;
- Flotation tailings hydrocyclone classification, thickening and filtration of coarse sand;
- Coarse sand stockpiled and delivered to mine backfill cement plant;
- Sand thickener overflow to final tailings thickener;
- Tailings thickener overflow to water treatment and process water tank;
- Tailings thickener underflow to the tailings storage facility (TSF).

Mine ore discharges from the Silver Shaft skips into two coarse ore bins with a total live capacity of approximately 1,000 tons. Ore is crushed in three stages to 100%passing (P100) 3/8 in. using a primary jaw, secondary cone, and tertiary cone crushers closed by a triple deck vibrating screen.

The ore is ground in a single ball mill and discharges to the flash flotation feed pump box where reagents are added. The slurry is pumped to a flash flotation cell to recover coarse lead and silver from the mill circulating load. Flash cell concentrate is final silver concentrate grade and flash cell underflow is pumped to a cyclone cluster for classification. The cyclone underflow returns to the mill and the cyclone overflow advances to lead rougher flotation.

The lead flotation circuit consists of conventional agitated flotation cells for rougher and rougher scavenger flotation, column flotation cells for lead cleaning, and a combination of conventional and column cells for lead cleaner scavenger flotation. Lead flash flotation, lead second cleaner, and lead cleaner scavenger concentrates report to the silver concentrate thickener. Lead cleaner scavenger tailings are reground and pumped to the lead cleaner scavenger column cell.

Lead rougher scavenger tailings report to the zinc conditioners and then to zinc rougher scavenger flotation. The zinc flotation circuit configuration is similar to the lead circuit, with conventional agitated flotation cells for rougher and rougher scavenger flotation, column flotation cells for zinc cleaning and a combination of conventional and column cells for zinc cleaner scavenger flotation. Zinc second cleaner and zinc cleaner scavenger concentrates report to the zinc concentrate thickener. Zinc rougher scavenger tailings are pumped to the final tailings sump and zinc rougher scavenger concentrate is recycled to the zinc conditioners.

Silver and zinc concentrates are thickened, filtered, and stockpiled in storage bunkers, then loaded into trucks and shipped to a smelter.

The flotation tailings are classified with hydrocyclones. The cyclone underflow slurry reports to the sand thickener and the thickener underflow sands are filtered and transported to the backfill cement plant for underground backfill. Sand thickener overflow is pumped to the tailings thickener. Thickener overflow is pumped to thewater treatment plant for recycle as process water or for discharge and the underflow is pumped to a TSF where the solids settle out of the tailings slurry and clear wateris treated and discharged.