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Note 11 - Commitments, Contingencies and Obligations | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2025
Disclosure Text Block [Abstract] |
Commitments, Contingencies and Obligations | Note 11. Commitments, Contingencies and Obligations San Mateo Creek Basin, New Mexico In July 2018, the EPA informed Hecla Limited that it and several other potentially responsible parties (“PRPs”) may be liable for cleanup of the San Mateo Creek Basin (“SMCB”), which is an approximately 321 square mile area in New Mexico that contains numerous legacy uranium mines and mills. At the time, the EPA stated it had incurred approximately $9.6 million in response costs. Also, in May, 2022 and August, 2024, Hecla Limited received a letter from a PRP notifying Hecla Limited that other PRPs may seek cost recovery and contribution from Hecla Limited under CERCLA for certain investigatory work performed by the PRPs at the SMCB site. Hecla Limited cannot with reasonable certainty estimate the amount or range of liability, if any, relating to this matter because of, among other reasons, the lack of information concerning the site, including the relative contributions of contamination by the various PRPs. Carpenter Snow Creek and Barker-Hughesville Sites in Montana In July 2010, the EPA made a formal request to Hecla for information regarding the Carpenter Snow Creek Superfund site located in Cascade County, Montana. The Carpenter Snow Creek site is located in a historical mining district, and in the early 1980s Hecla Limited leased 6 mining claims and performed limited exploration activities at the site. Hecla Limited terminated the mining lease in 1988. In June 2011, the EPA informed Hecla Limited that it believes Hecla Limited, and several other PRPs, may be liable for cleanup of the site or for costs incurred by the EPA in cleaning up the site. The EPA stated in the letter that it has incurred approximately $4.5 million in response costs and estimated that total remediation costs may exceed $100 million. Hecla Limited cannot with reasonable certainty estimate the amount or range of liability, if any, relating to this matter because of, among other reasons, the lack of information concerning the site, including the relative contributions of contamination by various other PRPs. In February 2017, the EPA made a formal request to Hecla for information regarding the Barker-Hughesville Mining District Superfund site located in Judith Basin and Cascade Counties, Montana. Hecla Limited submitted a response in April 2017. The Barker-Hughesville site is located in a historic mining district, and between approximately June and December 1983, Hecla Limited was party to an agreement with another mining company under which limited exploration activities occurred at or near the site. In August 2018, the EPA informed Hecla Limited that it and several other PRPs may be liable for cleanup of the site or for costs incurred by the EPA in cleaning up the site. The EPA did not include an amount of its alleged response costs to date. Hecla Limited cannot with reasonable certainty estimate the amount or range of liability, if any, relating to this matter because of, among other reasons, the lack of information concerning past or anticipated future costs at the site and the relative contributions of contamination by various other PRPs. Litigation Related to Klondex Acquisition On May 24, 2019, a purported Hecla stockholder filed a putative class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Hecla and certain of our executive officers, one of whom was also a director. The complaint, purportedly brought on behalf of all purchasers of Hecla common stock from March 19, 2018 through and including May 8, 2019, asserts claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder and seeks, among other things, damages and costs and expenses. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Hecla, under the authority and control of the individual defendants, made certain materially false and misleading statements and omitted certain material information regarding Hecla’s Nevada assets. The complaint was dismissed by the Federal District Court with prejudice on September 30, 2024. On October 28, 2024, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The appeal has been briefed and oral arguments are scheduled for May 2025. Related to this class action lawsuit, Hecla has been named as a nominal defendant in a shareholder derivative lawsuit which also names as defendants certain current and past members of Hecla’s Board of Directors and certain past officers of Hecla. The case was filed on May 4, 2022 in the Delaware Chancery Court. In general terms, the suit alleges breaches of fiduciary duties by the individual defendants, waste of corporate assets and unjust enrichment, and seeks damages, purportedly on behalf of Hecla. Debt See Note 7 for information on the commitments related to our debt arrangements as of March 31, 2025. Indirect Taxes In May 2024, our Keno Hill subsidiary received a notice of assessment ("NOA") for goods and services tax ("GST") on its 2023 sales for CAD $1,973,181 from the Canada Revenue Agency ("CRA"). As Keno Hill's sales are to a non-Canadian party, we do not believe Keno Hill is subject to collect and remit GST, and we have disputed the NOA and proposed audit adjustments. On April 30, 2025, the CRA advised that they agreed with our position and the matter is resolved. In addition, in May 2024 Keno Hill also received correspondence from the CRA for GST on Keno Hill's sales and input tax credits from 2020 through 2022 of CAD$1,038,834. This matter was resolved with the CRA during January 2025 for a cash payment of approximately CAD$32,000. Other Commitments Our contractual obligations as of March 31, 2025 included open purchase orders and commitments of $11.7 million, $7.6 million, $11.1 million, $7.6 million and $1.9 million for various capital and non-capital items at Greens Creek, Lucky Friday, Keno Hill, Casa Berardi and Other, respectively. We also have total commitments of $19.6 million relating to scheduled payments on finance leases, including interest, primarily for equipment at our operations, and total commitments of $9.8 million relating to payments on operating leases (see Note 7 for more information). As part of our ongoing business and operations, we are required to provide surety bonds, bank letters of credit, and restricted deposits for various purposes, including financial support for environmental reclamation obligations and workers compensation programs. As of March 31, 2025, we had surety bonds totaling $215.6 million and letters of credit totaling $6.6 million in place as financial support for future reclamation and closure costs, self-insurance, and employee benefit plans. The obligations associated with these instruments are generally related to performance requirements that we address through ongoing operations. As the requirements are met, the beneficiary of the associated instruments cancels or returns the instrument to the issuing entity. Certain of these instruments are associated with operating sites with long-lived assets and will remain outstanding until closure of the sites. We believe we are in compliance with all applicable bonding requirements and will be able to satisfy future bonding requirements as they arise. Other Contingencies We also have certain other contingencies resulting from litigation, claims, EPA investigations, and other commitments and are subject to a variety of environmental and safety laws and regulations incident to the ordinary course of business. We currently have no basis to conclude that any or all of such contingencies will materially affect our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. However, in the future, there may be changes to these contingencies, or additional contingencies may occur, any of which might result in an accrual or a change in current accruals recorded by us, and there can be no assurance that their ultimate disposition will not have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

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