Welcome to the Silver Valley
Welcome to the Silver Valley
More than 1.2 billion ounces of silver have been
mined in Idaho’s Silver Valley where once hundreds
of mines were actively worked. Today there are
just a few active operations remaining. Below you
is the impoundment that stores tailings from
Hecla’s Lucky Friday Mine. These tailings
are the fine grained rock that remains after the
valuable silver, lead and zinc minerals
have been removed. This impoundment is a
synthetically lined, earthen fill dam that will store
2.64 million tons of tailings. When it is complete
the area will be covered and planted
to native grasses and shrubs.
Submitted by Debby Drake