Oregon Public Broadcasting

Mining is traditionally a boom-and-bust industry. Right now, times are good.

The Coeur d'Alene, Idaho-based Hecla Mining Company Tuesday announced that high silver prices have translated into record profits. Doug Nadvornick reports.

To say Hecla had a good third quarter is an understatement.

Phil Baker: "We've had the second best quarter in our history, 100-year history."

Hecla CEO Phil Baker says the company's two North American mines, one in Alaska, one in north Idaho, are producing twice as much silver as they did two years ago. And, with prices for the metal at a robust $17-an-ounce, the company's making good money.

Baker credits a strong demand for silver in China and other developing countries for driving the price up.

Phil Baker: "The demand for the metal is as much as it's ever been and growing at the fastest rate that it's ever grown. So the outlook is just the best that I have seen in the almost 10 years I've been with Hecla."

That's good news for the Silver Valley in north Idaho, where the unemployment rate is 14.5 percent.