Hecla Mining Co HL

Innovate or be Irrelevant (Houston we have problem).

[HuskySW]

Thought I’d type this up while multi-taking and thinking of recent events at Hecla.  Why Hecla?  Because Hecla has the possibility to make Keno Hill a great mining camp again.

Warning – It will probably take longer to read this that it took to type.  LOL

I can imagine that the Hecla team is still reeling from the optics of Mr. Baker’s unannounced and sudden departure.  Was he removed?  Don’t know but bet no, it’s not usual practice to just remove a CEO, with no by your leave.
  
Perhaps Mr. Baker took a look around and realized his much the much spoken of innovative use of silver for solar panels is perhaps not so much of a talking point.

Turns out the “new” solar industry is resulting in many companies in NA is resulting in high risk finances and dissatisfied end users.

https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2024/01/75-california-rooftop-solar-companies-high-risk-bankruptcy
https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2024/01/bankruptcies-and-closures-rock-residential-solar-installation/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/solar-co-collapses-customers-furious-as-dems-favorite-power-source-leaves-homeowners-high-and-dry/ar-BB1otmab
And the list goes on.

Personal experience with solar was a university getting innovation credits (money) for unique applications,  so the credit was to  install photo voltaic ( at the time with a leading European company)  immersed in glass windows with back on grid energy capability , got the credits but the panels life span was a few generations shorter than payback period…  LOL

IMHO Hecla (and all silver miners) need to look into not just modern mining methods (Hecla has patents there) but find new uses for what may otherwise become a somewhat irrelevant commodity (except for the traders and investment houses).

Li-ion has taken over batteries for a lot of uses but in fact Silver-Zinc batteries in a lot of applications are superior but no one talks of it anymore and silver in panels can be replaced with other elements.

I read somewhere a snippet by an investor that stated  “Why mine 20m oz with no profit, may as well leave it in the ground!”.  Is this the reason this stock just remains range bound?
Will $50 silver move the needle. 
Perhaps but I suspect retail investment may be out of the loop and by the time that becomes evident it may be all over.

Hecla has everything it needs a well paid management and board.  Large captive labour force (mining is a specialized skill, it’s hard to just pack up and start somewhere else). 

Is controlled by investment companies that have their own agenda’s of which Hecla is a small part.  Hecla is leveraged and quite frankly does not appear to have a large cash runway (probably by design, financing?)

Footnote- just because.

Houston we have a problem – many may remember Lovell’s famous words 3 days into the Apollo 13 moon shot. 

Short story it was a company (EaglePicher) and their unstoppable Silver-Zinc batteries that brought the crew home.  Besides, of the hundreds of kg. of silver left on the moon, want to bet some of it may have come from Lucky Friday?

https://www.nasa.gov/history/50-years-ago-houston-weve-had-a-problem/

Want to see what an “old school” unstoppable Silver-Zinc battery looks like?

https://apollo11space.com/how-batteries-took-man-to-the-moon-on-apollo-11/

Comments or corrections always welcome.
Enjoy and make it a great day.

[roberto146]

The MSN and other articles blame elimination of subsidies for the shrinking of the solar business, but if businesses need subsidies they're not economically viable, and it's just the usual misallocation of capital. The problem with these government initiatives is that instead of capital being employed in projects that make economic sense they are universally applied on an all-or-nothing

[HuskySW]

 I did take the opportunity to quick scan through some recent legislation and see that some of the mining and smelting that used to happen here has either been shuttered or gone off shore.  China now does a lot of smelting, no surprise. As for solar on roofs I have my own reservations and to finance something for a longer term that the product lasts (or the roof membrane) makes me