Hecla Mining produced 5,316mt of lead and 12,576mt of zinc in the March quarter (Q1). This is an 8pc drop in lead production while zinc production was down 10pc from the prior year quarter.
Hecla is the third largest producer of lead and zinc in the US.
| Production (mt) | Q1 2020 | Q1 2019 | Change (%) |
| Lead | 5,316 | 5,785 | -8% |
| Zinc | 12,576 | 13,943 | -10% |
The company said that three of its five US mines were deemed essential and remained fully operational. These mines represent 69pc of its operations. The company has, however, decided to withdraw its full- year guidance to assess the impact of COVID-19 on its production costs.
In February, the company had started to take preventive measures to safely continue its mining activities. Limited site access, social distancing and temperature testing are all being done as per government directives to contain the spread of COVID-19. The company said that the communities where Hecla operates have had no occurrences of COVID-19 so far.