On August 28, 2008, Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL)
announced that its Board of Directors, by unanimous written consent, had
elected to declare the regular quarterly dividend on the outstanding
6.5% Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock in the amount of $1.625 per
share and to pay such dividend in Common Stock of Hecla, for a total
amount of approximately $3.27 million in Hecla Common Stock (with cash
for fractional shares).
Each holder of the 6.5% Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock will
receive 0.3092 shares of Hecla’s Common Stock
per share of Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock. The value of the
shares of Common Stock issued as dividends was calculated at 97% of the
average of the closing prices of Hecla’s
Common Stock over the five consecutive trading day period ending on the
second trading day immediately preceding the dividend payment date of
October 1, 2008. There will be no fractional shares issued, so a cash
adjustment will be paid to each holder that would be entitled to a
fraction of a share of Common Stock (based on a price of $5.42 per share
of Common Stock, the average of the closing prices of Hecla’s
Common Stock over the five consecutive trading day period ending on the
second trading day immediately preceding the dividend payment date).
There are a total of 2,012,500 shares of 6.5% Mandatory Convertible
Preferred Stock outstanding. Hecla will capitalize retained earnings for
the fair market value of the shares of Common Stock to be issued as
dividends. Sale of the shares of Common Stock received as a dividend by
a holder will reduce a holder’s proportionate
equity in the company.
Hecla Mining Company, headquartered in Coeur d’Alene,
Idaho, mines, processes and explores for silver and gold in the United
States and Mexico. A 117-year-old company, Hecla has long been well
known in the mining world and financial markets as a quality producer of
silver and gold. Hecla’s common and preferred
shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols “HL,”
“HL-PrB” and “HL-PrC.”
Hecla’s Home Page can be accessed on the
Internet at www.hecla-mining.com.
Hecla Mining Company
Vicki Veltkamp, 208-769-4128
vice
president - investor and public relations
