COEUR d'ALENE - Hecla Mining Co. on Tuesday announced it expects to spend $30 million on cleanup and improvements to the primary access shaft at the Lucky Friday silver mine in Mullan.

The Silver Shaft was closed in January, following three major accidents last year. The mine will be on "standby" for the rest of this year, with production to resume in early 2013.

The money will be spent removing loose cement and sand material that had accumulated on the walls of the Silver Shaft, and removal of unused utilities. Hecla also will construct a metal barrier between the two halves of the shaft, install a new power cable, and improve the shaft's functionality.

The Coeur d'Alene based company said it plans to spend another $20 million on separate capital projects at Lucky Friday during the silver production stoppage.

The company had some good news on Tuesday as it announced earnings for 2011 and the fourth quarter.

Hecla's president and CEO, Phillips S. Baker Jr., said, "Hecla faced significant challenges in 2011; however, what is different today than at any other time in our history is that our financial position, asset base, and growth opportunities are the strongest they have ever been."

He said the company had record levels of revenue and gross profit last year, surpassing record levels a year earlier. He pointed to higher metals prices as one major reason for the gains.

Hecla reported 2011 revenue of $477.6 million and gross profit of $265 million, with total silver production of 9.5 million ounces, which was in line with the company's guidance.

Hecla estimates that silver production for this year would be 7 million ounces, with no production from Lucky Friday. The Greens Creek Mine in Alaska produced 6.5 million ounces in 2011, and will have to carry the production load this year.

Silver reserves and resources increased by 4 percent and 13 percent, respectively, in 2011, reaching 148 million ounces and 281 million ounces. It was the sixth consecutive year of increases in silver reserves and resources.

Looking back on 2011, Baker said Hecla had multiple accomplishments.

He said the company was proud to have finalized a long-standing Coeur d'Alene River Basin environmental settlement last year, paying $168 million in the fourth quarter. Without that payment, cash provided by operations would have been $238 million. That would be a 20 percent increase over 2010's levels.

Among other company accomplishments last year, he touted the acquisition of a minority interest in the San Juan Silver property in Creede, Colo.

"In addition, we finished the year with $266.5 million of cash and no debt," Baker said in a press release. "We did all of these things while dealing with a series of unprecedented and unfortunate, yet unrelated, events at our Lucky Friday mine."

Silver production at Lucky Friday was 3 million ounces for 2011, with half a million ounces coming in the fourth quarter.

Those numbers are down slightly compared with the year earlier periods, when the mine produced 3.4 million ounces for the year and 800,000 ounces in the final quarter of 2010.

The primary reason for the decrease was interruptions from the accidents.