Hecla Mining
HL
reported silver production of 3.3 million ounces in the first quarter of 2022, up 3% on a sequential basis, courtesy of improved performance at the Greens Creek mine. Compared with the first quarter of 2021, production was down 7%.
Gold production was down 13% to 41,642 ounces in the quarter compared with the fourth quarter of 2021. Lead production was 10,863 tons, flat on a sequential basis. Zinc output inched up 1% to 14,947 tons from the fourth quarter of 2021.
Silver equivalent production for the quarter came in at 9.7 million ounces, while gold equivalent production was 123,537 ounces.
Silver production at Greens Creek mine increased 7% sequentially to 2.43 million ounces in the quarter. Gold production was up 11% to 11,402 ounces. The improvement was primarily due to higher grades. At the Casa Berardi mine, gold production slumped 19% year over year to 30,240 ounces on lower grades.
The Lucky Friday mine reported silver production of 887,858 ounces, which marked a 7% decline from the fourth quarter of 2021. Fewer tons and lower silver grades were mined due to equipment delays that affected mine sequencing. The mine has now witnessed production above 830,000 ounces for the past six quarters. Backed by this momentum, the company expects its output to grow to over a million ounces a quarter for the remainder of the year.
Hecla Mining is the largest silver producer in the United States. It is the highest-grade silver miner in the world with the third-largest resource base. The company solely produces around 40% of the silver mined in the United States. Its mines have the highest reserve grades, long mine lives and are low cost.
Its peer
Endeavour Silver Corporation
EXK
, announced that it has produced 2 million silver equivalent ounces in the first quarter of 2022, which was 4% higher year on year. Consolidated silver production was 1,314,955 ounces in the quarter, up 25% year over year.
This improvement was mainly driven by a 23% increase in silver production at the Guanacevi mine and a 70% rise in silver production at the Bolanitos mine. Endeavour Silver sold 1,717,768 ounces of silver and 8,381 ounces of gold in the quarter.
Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.
FSM
reported silver production of 1,670,128 ounces in the first quarter of 2022, reflecting a 13% drop from last year’s quarter. Gold output soared 93% year on year to 66,800 ounces.
Fortuna Silver’s silver production was impacted by a 14% decrease in head grade at the San Jose Mine, which is in line with the Mineral Reserve average grade. Meanwhile, gold production benefited from contributions of 30,068 ounces from the Lindero Mine and 28,235 ounces from the Yaramoko Mine (acquired in July 2021).
Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Shares of Hecla Mining have gained 33.5% so far this year compared with the
industry
‘s growth of 20.2%.
Zacks Rank & a Stock to Consider
Hecla Mining currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A better-ranked stock worth considering in the basic materials space is
Nutrien Ltd.
NTR
which flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here
Nutrien has an expected earnings growth rate of 108.7% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NTR’s current-year earnings has been revised 37.4% upward over the last 60 days.
Nutrien has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 60.3%, on average. NTR has rallied around 45% year to date.
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