Hecla’s Lucky Friday silver-zinc-lead mine has partnered with Epiroc to design, build, test, and deploy a mechanical miner, the Mobile Miner 40V, for primary ore production, which Hecla refers to as a Mobile Mechanical Vein Miner. The implementation plan of the Mobile Miner is envisioned to be in two phases. The first phase of implementation is to establish a true longwall face across the entire 30 Vein by advancing 12 stope to the same elevation as the adjacent stopes.

In a conference all on its Q3 2018 results, Hecla CEO states that in early 2019 the 40V machine will be completed at the Epiroc factory in Orebro, and it will be shipped to the USA in the second half of the year. He adds: “It’s about a six month process to get it fully underground and then there’s some development that also has to be done to have a place to be reassembled underground.” The machine will enter the mine via the the Silver Shaft, an 18-ft (5.5 m) diameter, concrete-lined shaft sunk to a depth of 6,200 ft. The Mobile Miner will be assembled for testing on surface then will proceed underground in  5 ft by 5 ft compartments.