RE:So it's Friday and I'm watching the sun"... maybe Mr Baker's leaving was telling ..."
If you read the article I linked to on 5/26/24 there are strong hints related to Montana permitting and a juicy property, also much comment in the notes of the 2023 Annual Hecla report. The article is from 2021, but the saga has been ongoing for years.
Montana wants some money, but should that project be approved, and should the estimates of the property's worth prove accurate, that could mean a boost for HL.
"Silver increases appears to not reflect HL share price and in fact a quick comparison of early 2023 silver seems to show share price lagging, it's like it's stuck in mud? Thoughts?"
June is historically a seasonal bad month for HL after a bump in May (but of course historical data, especially seasonals, do not foretell the future). Looking at the current silver COTs, the specs are long silver to the extreme, longs' liquidation soon? But silver is a strange beast, anything can happen. The RSI on $bpgdm chart on StockCharts is back into the '90s again, often a good leading indicator of PM stock correction sentiment, whether indicating ups or downs.
...
As a side note I mentioned some time back that I had discarded my UKHM annual reports from 1992, 3,4, and 1995 but I came across them the other day; they didn't make it to the trash - sorry, recycling. Interesting reading; the deposits of interest were Silver King, Bellkeno, and ... Husky SW. Total resource then was about 20M oz of silver, with a possible resource of 200M oz for their properties - actually a pretty good guess.
Ongoing topics of discussion included the 'perennial silver supply deficit'(!), and some problems with environmental issues, water etc.
The tailings pile survey at that time showed 15M oz of silver, 90M lbs of lead, and 60M lbs of zinc, worth $100M at the time. Now they may be worth $600M, assuming the survey was accurate. We've heard almost nothing about those tailings for quite a while, and even then, only the silver.
The 1995 report claimed UKHM would be restarting in late '96 at 368 tpd, with cash cost of US4.44/oz, and silver price at about US10 bucks. I remember talking to CEO Stephen Powell on the phone and UKHM was finalizing decisions on the equipment choices in anticipation of startup the next year, 1996 ... didn't happen.
...
Even with the AXR startup in 2011-13 they didn't make much money in any quarters and actually had a net loss of $50M for the run (largely due to impairment charges, otherwise about broke even) on 30 to 24 dollar silver before shutting down, after big investment $$. AEM environmental group contributed, otherwise the loss would have been worse. AEM was a good money maker until they sold it.