PHOTO CREDIT Joel Riner and Elijah Larson

As Monique Hayes pressed the button controlling the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange, her coworkers applauded from the depths of the Golden Chest Mine 2,500 miles away near Murray, Idaho.

"It was all connected,“ Hayes said Tuesday. "The fact that we’re the first company to ever have rung the bell from underground like that is remarkable."

Idaho Strategic Resources — a gold and rare-earth element production company headquartered in downtown Coeur d'Alene — celebrated March 11 when it was officially listed on the NYSE under the "IDR" stock symbol.

Early Monday morning, corporate secretary Hayes stood on the balcony in the storied Wall Street institution as her colleagues live-streamed to join her for the momentous occasion.

"We had a large contingent there, they were pretty excited about it,” Idaho Strategic Resources CEO/President John Swallow said. "We did it this way so everybody could participate.

"Everybody’s super happy," he continued. "It’s just a cool experience. I'm really glad we got to share it with the guys. They're the ones who make it all possible."

Corporate development/stakeholder relations Travis Swallow and brother Ryan Swallow prepared the tech and broadcasting area the day before and were back at it in the wee hours to ensure the underground workers could be present on stage with Hayes via live stream.

"We had to meet at the depot at 4 a.m. with camera people," John Swallow said.

He gave mining engineer Andrew Brackebusch and son Travis props for "running point on the whole thing."

Travis said Idaho Strategic has always done things its own way.

"The decision to ring the bell from underground so everybody could be involved was unanimous amongst the group," he said. "To ring the bell from underground was not only a really fun thing to do, but it was also very cool to create a little bit of history along the way."

Hayes said it was a proud moment for her and Idaho Strategic Resources.

"It is an amazing experience, with the history of the Stock Exchange and that it's been around for over 200 years," she said. "It was just really cool to be up there representing this company."