Hecla resumes work at Casa Berardi

Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) plans to restart operations at the Casa Berardi gold mine following the government of Quebec’s decision to allow mining activities to resume.

The underground mine was temporarily suspended on March 24 in compliance with government orders to minimize the risk of exposure to covid-19.

The restart of operations is planned over a month and will follow the government’s guidelines with a focus on maintaining appropriate covid-19 practices, including emphasizing proper hygiene practices and social distancing.

As an added precaution, the company said open-pit contract mining will not yet resume to minimize the number of workers on site. Stockpiled open-pit ore will be fed to the mill until contract mining begins.

The Casa Berardi mine has produced approximately 1.9 million recovered gold ounces since production began in 1988.