Gold occurs both as free particles in quartz and attached to or included in pyrite. Locally, gold is also seen on chloritic partings. Hecla believes the results of that program confirm that ore-grade mineralization extends to depths below the levels to which the current mine reserves have been delineated. In addition, Hecla controls nine other exploration concessions near the La Camorra mine encompassing 8,000 hectares. Ore is extracted from the stopes using rubber-tired equipment and hauled to the surface in mine haulage trucks.
Subeconomic material is used to backfill and stabilize mined-out stopes.
The mine is currently producing approximately 450 tons of ore per day. The ore is crushed in a modular two-staged crushing plant consisting of a primary jaw, a secondary cone crusher and a double deck vibrating screen. The grinding circuit includes a primary and a secondary ball mill. The carbon is then stripped and the gold recovered and poured into gold bars for shipment to a refiner. The plant was constructed in 1994 and is capable of processing approximately 500 tons per day.