Hecla is committed to being a responsible steward of water in our operations to safeguard this critical natural resource and reduce potential impacts on local communities. Our 2025 Sustainability Policy establishes our commitment to:
During all phases of the mine life cycle, our operations have controls in place to protect water resources, and we conduct extensive and ongoing assessments that inform decision making. Our water stewardship practices include reducing freshwater use where possible, using water efficiently including recycling and reuse, maintaining water quality, managing water discharge, and engaging with our communities to collaboratively manage shared water resources.
Each site has a comprehensive water management plan to ensure we meet applicable laws and regulatory requirements related to water. The plans are tailored to account for the site’s specific water sources, levels of precipitation, and operational details. Our site management teams, who have primary responsibility for water management, are responsible for implementing the plans. In 2025, we began developing Hecla wide corporate standards on water management.
Comprehensive water quality monitoring programs help ensure we meet all applicable regulatory requirements related to water.
We implement water quality monitoring programs including analysis of baseline water conditions and extensive sampling, quality analysis, and audits. In 2025, we completed required audits of water quality at Hecla mine sites. The monitoring programs also identify opportunities to increase recycling and reuse of water to reduce associated discharges of treated water.
Biomonitoring
At the Greens Creek mine, Hecla collaborates with federal and state agencies to fulfill our commitment to rigorous biomonitoring. Learn more in our 2025 Sustainability Report.
Lucky Friday has undertaken an ambitious project to dramatically reduce the volume of water usage and subsequently the volume of treated water discharged into the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River. To realize this goal, our engineers are implementing multiple projects to improve water management at the mine site and optimize operations.
Whenever possible, we recycle and reuse water for milling and processing to help offset our freshwater withdrawal. In 2025, we recycled 67% of process water. Learn more about Hecla’s water usage in our Environmental Data Tables.
Hecla is always focused on using water more efficiently. We continue to advance company-wide efforts to reduce freshwater intensity usage. In 2024, we achieved 0.02 water usage intensity (silver-equivalent ounces/gallons used in mining or process operations).
