Hecla is committed to being a responsible steward of water in our operations, in order to safeguard this critical natural resource and reduce potential impacts on local communities.
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 tailored to that site, considering variations for water sources, levels of precipitation, and operational changes.
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. 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 2023 Sustainability Report.
In 2023, the Lucky Friday mine continued pursing its goal of reducing sitewide discharge by 35% within three years from a 2022 baseline by recycling water on site to meet operational needs. To reach this goal, Lucky Friday engineers are developing a water recycling system to replace a portion of the freshwater used to cool the underground with decant water.
Whenever possible, we recycle and reuse water for milling and processing to help offset our freshwater withdrawal. In 2023, we recycled 67% of process water, up from 62% in 2022. 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 2023, we achieved 0.02 water usage intensity (Ag-equivalent ounces/gallons used in mining or process operations).
