MULLAN - Hecla Mining Company has been working diligently on its No. 4 Shaft Project at the Lucky Friday mine for one year, and just recently announced that the decision has been made to bottom out the new shaft at 8,800 feet.

This will make the Lucky Friday mine the deepest mine in the Silver Valley, pushing it deeper than the previous record holder the Star mine in Burke.

This extension from the original bottom level of 7,800 feet will add six months to the projected schedule, with a completion date of late 2014 or early 2015.

Final approval for the project by the Hecla Board of Directors is expected mid-2011, but much progress has already been made as the underground hoist room at the 4,900 level has been excavated ahead of schedule this year.

Work to construct the foundations for the main production hoist as well as the formation of the shaft collar is currently under way.

"Logistically it is a real challenge," said Mike Dexter, Lucky Friday mine manager. Crew schedules are coordinated between the Cementation, USA contractors working on the No. 4 Shaft Project and the Lucky Friday miners going about their day-to-day production. "We have to continue to feed the mill, which pays the bills."

Once on the surface or working underground the two operations are divorced, and only the shaft time coming up and going down is shared.

The entire project is estimated to cost from $150 to $200 million and it is believed that, once completed, the new shaft will increase the mine's annual silver production by 50 percent from current levels.

This increase in production is influenced by the expectation of ore grade to increase from its current grade of 10.4 ounces of silver per ton to more than 14 ounces of silver per ton. Also, mill throughput of ore is expected to increase from to 375 thousand tons each year, up from 350.