Hecla Mining Amends Credit Agreement (HL)

Effective as of December 22, 2010, together with HL Hecla Alaska LLC, Hecla Greens Creek Mining Company, and Hecla Juneau Mining Company, our wholly owned subsidiaries, we entered into a Third Amendment to Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (the "Third Amendment") with The Bank of Nova Scotia and ING Capital LLC (the "Lenders"). The Third Amendment amends certain provisions of the Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, dated as of October 14, 2009, as amended, which was filed as Exhibit 10.1 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on October 15, 2009. The Third Amendment, among other changes to our credit agreement, (1) extends the maturity date of our credit facility to January 31, 2014, (2) reduces the commitment fee payable to the lenders for our revolving credit facility to between 0.825 and 1.05% depending on our ratio of total debt to earnings before interest expense, tax expense, depreciation, amortization and other allowed add backs to earnings ("leverage ratio"), (3) allows us to issue secured and unsecured debt, and investments, to governmental authorities as payment of obligations owed to such authorities in connection with our ownership and operation of our properties, and (4) allows us to release liens and security interests granted to the lenders to secure our credit facility, other than the liens and security interests on our interests in, and the liens and security interests on substantially all of the non-real property assets of, the Greens Creek mine. The Third Amendment also decreases the rate of interest charged on outstanding loans to the London Interbank Offered Rate plus an applicable margin of between 2.75 and 3.50% depending upon our leverage ratio, or The Bank of Nova Scotia's base rate plus an applicable margin of between 1.75 and 2.50% depending on our leverage ratio.