The Lucky Friday mine is an underground silver, lead, and zinc mine in the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, near

Mullan, Idaho Mullan is a city in the northwest United States, located in the Silver Valley mining district of northern Idaho. The population was 646 at the 2020 census and 692 at the 2010 census, and 840 in 2000. In Shoshone County at the east end of the ...

. Operated by

Hecla Mining Hecla Mining is a gold, silver and other precious metals mining company based in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Founded in 1891, is the second-largest mining company that produces silver in the country. This area is known as the Silver Valley (Idaho). ...

company, it is one of the few mines remaining operational in the Silver Valley of

northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

, producing 1000 tons of ore per day. The ore deposit type is Polymetallic veins of hydrothermal origin. The mining method used is underhand cut and fill mining. The mine's primary access and production are through the Silver Shaft, an diameter, concrete-lined shaft sunk to a depth of , over below

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

Geography

Located in northern Idaho, the mine is east of Mullan in the Coeur d’Alene Mining District, on the north side of exit 69 of

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

. The

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

at the surface is approximately above sea level. About eastbound on I-90 is

Lookout Pass Lookout Pass is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of the northwestern United States. In the Coeur d'Alene Mountains of the Bitterroot Range, the pass is on the border between Idaho and Montana, traversed by Interstate 90 (formerly U.S. Rout ...

, the border with

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

Geology

The geology is

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...

meta‐sedimentary rocks and forms veins ranging in width from , and over in The ore is bleached by hydrothermal processes and extend downwards in veins at a 75-degree angle.

History

The mine was discovered in 1880 by J.F. Ingalls. Production started in 1942. Six claims were filed by the Lucky Friday Group between 1899 and 1906. The claims were located between two faults with only a hint of ore veins at the surface, and was largely ignored, except for sporadic trenching and tunneling. In 1938, John Sekulic leased, with an option to buy, the six deserted claims. On 30 March 1939, Sekulic and Charles E. Horning organized the Lucky Friday Silver-Lead Mines Company in Idaho, and issued 1,200,000 shares. Sinking a 100 foot shaft showed more promising veins, prompting a contract with Albert H. Featherstone's Galconda Lead Mines, Inc., to sink the shaft to the 600 foot level. The first shipment of 478 tons of ore was made in Jan. 1942. The mine reached the 1400 foot level in 1948. In 1951 the company paid its first dividend. Horning became president and general manager upon Sekulic's death in 1956. Between 1954 and 1958, the mine produced ores averaging 17.2 ounces of silver and 8.6 ounces of lead per ton. In Dec. 1958, Hecla Mining bought the shares owned by Featherstone and Horning, and continued to buy outstanding shares until Hecla became the major owner of Lucky Friday at 38%. In 1964 the Lucky Friday Silver-Lead Mines Company merged into Hecla Mining.

References

{{Authority control Silver mines in the United States Lead mines in the United States Zinc mines in the United States Mines in Idaho