Lucky Friday’s silver production falls by 90 percent during 3Q

The Lucky Friday Mine is still producing a limited amount of silver, even though its 250 union employees are on strike.

The underground mine near Mullan, Idaho, produced 88,298 ounces of silver during the third quarter, owner Hecla Mining Co. said this week.

The volume represents a 90 percent drop from the 887,365 ounces of silver mined during the third quarter of 2016.

The Lucky Friday’s managers and other nonunion workers are performing a limited amount of production and other work at the mine during the strike, company officials said.

Hecla’s other mines in Canada, Mexico and Alaska produced about 3.3 million ounces of silver and 63,046 ounces of gold during the third quarter, according to Hecla.

The strike, which started in March, is the first at the Lucky Friday since 1981.

The previous six-year contract between management and United Steelworkers Local 5114 expired in April 2016. Both sides met several times with a federal mediator, but couldn’t reach agreement on a new contract.

The parties met for three days of negotiations in early October, according to the Steelworker’s Facebook page.