Hecla fined $318K over death of miner in Idaho

Hecla Mining has been fined $318,200 by federal regulators for the death of a worker last yballast crushing plant from indiaear in Idaho's Lucky Friday Mine.

Larry Marek died April 15, 2011, during a cave-in at the underground silver mine near Mullan, Idaho.

In a report released last year, Mine Safety and Health Administration officials called Lucky Friday managers negligent for failing to install adequate ground support and not testing the stability of the rock where the cave-in occurred. Hecla has disputed those findings.

Hecla must either pay the fines by June 19 or contest them. The company declined to say Wednesday what it planned to do.

"It's still a legal issue, and the company doesn't comment on pending legal matters," spokesman Stan Devereau said.

Hecla is based in nearby Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and is the nation's largest primary silver producer.

Marek was crushed when his work area collapsed in what was Hecla's first fatal accident at the mine in 25 years.

It was the first of three accidents that prompted the Mine Safety and Health Administration to order the mine closed in January for some safety improvements, throwing more than 100 miners out of work. Contract miner Brandon Lloyd Gray was buried in rubble while trying to dislodge jammed rock Nov. 17, and died two days later.

In mid-December, a rock burst injured seven miners. The mine has not operated since.

Federal safety inspectors ordered the Lucky Friday Mine closed after they determined sand and concrete material that had leaked from a pipe into a mine shaft over the years needed to be removed.

The material is in the mile-deep Silver Shaft, the mine's main access shaft, and workers are essentially power washing the material from its walls.

Last month, Hecla Mining Chief Executive Officer Phil Baker said the work was progressing and that Hecla would start rehiring workers in July.

The underground Lucky Friday Mine is one of the nation's deepest, and produces silver, gold, zinc and other metals.