What happened
Extraction company Hecla Mining (HL 4.51%) struck gold on Friday, with its stock price rising at double-digit rates thanks to a production update. The veteran miner's shares rose a steep 13%, easily topping the 0.5% decline of the S&P 500 index on the day.
So what
Late Thursday, Hecla published preliminary figures for its gold and silver production, providing the numbers for both nine-month and third-quarter performances.
The company's main activity, silver mining, saw mixed fortunes. Production of the metal increased by 8% year over year for the first nine months of this year to 11.4 million ounces. Production declined at the same rate for the third quarter, however, dropping to just over 3.5 million ounces.
The reverse was true for gold, which saw a production drop in the first nine months but rise during the quarter. For the former period, it decreased by 14% to 132,108 ounces. However, the tally rose by 11% to 39,269 in the latter.
As for the other two elements mined by Hecla, the respective nine-month and quarterly declines recorded by lead were 3% and 37%. Zinc production advanced only marginally in the former frame, while dropping 12% in the latter.
Now what
Hecla certainly has good timing, as its production figures release coincides with a distinct uptick in gold prices over the past few days. Gold has also managed to more or less hold at relatively high prices since the onset of the pandemic; many investors remain wary of the economy, which is still under some degree of threat from inflation and will be impacted by current conflicts around the world.
