Monthly Archives: August 2017

Expiration dates on medications aren't always backed up by science.

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The expiration dates on over-the-counter and prescription medications seem pretty black and white, but there's some question about whether drugs last even longer.

Expiration dates typically range from 12 to 60 months after production. But manufacturers aren't required to determine how long they'll remain potent after that, enabling them to set their own expiration dates and possibly shortchange consumers.

Testing reported inJAMA Internal Medicineshowed that eight medications with 15 different active ingredients were still potent decades beyond their expiration dates.

The U.S. government's own Shelf Life Extension Program extends the dates on some drugs in federal stockpiles to save the military from the cost of replacing them. Its own study found that 90 percent of more than 100 drugs were perfectly good even 15 years after expiration.

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A new study warns that the risk for heart attacks while taking painkillers known as NSAIDs can appear just days after use. These medications incl...

But what about the meds in your home?

A lot depends on how carefully you store them -- you probably don't do as good a job as the U.S. Army. That's why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends never taking drugs beyond their expiration date -- it's just too risky. In particular, nitroglycerin, insulin and liquid antibiotics shouldn't be used after their expiration dates.

To safeguard all medications, protect them from heat, light and humidity by keeping them in a cool, dry, dark place. A steamy bathroom isn't a good environment.

Know, too, that some drugs can lose their potency more quickly than others, including aspirin. If you take aspirin for heart health, be sure to replace it as needed.

2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Can you take medications past their expiration date? - CBS News

On Thursday August 3, the Hopkins County extension agents hosted a fun and fast-moving workshop for Extension leaders. About two dozen individuals and committee members were present, representing various aspects of Extension projects including 4-H, Master Gardener, Wellness /Nutrition and Special Events.

The meetings purpose was to dispense information and to gather information. According to a census of attendees, radio and e-mail are the preferred mediums for receiving information about Extension activities. Agent Johanna Hicks asked to suggest future programs that would fill local needs, and to be willing to mentor new 4H programs that may help youth. One of the guidelines of new programs is an 8-task learning requirement. Reports given to leaders showed that over 500 hours in volunteer services were logged during 2016, with that number is expected to increase for 2017. Another report showed the BLT program, or Better Living for Texans, provides $1200 annually for expenses for local nutrition education programs. Another report showed that the relatively new Fee-Based extension programs require attendees to remit $10 which the College Station headquarters uses to offset wages paid to extension employees. Extension Agent Mario Villarino said that the annual Hay Show, which is an Ag Extension program held in the Fall, is in need of support by new producers as its population is aging.

Those present enjoyed a healthy meal prepared by the agents, and entertaining role-play exercise and door prize give-aways based on facts learned at the meeting. Everyone also met Extension intern Aida Ugalde, who will graduate from Texas A and M Commerce with studies in Health Promotions. The public is invited to get involved with Extension office efforts to serve local needs. The agents welcome suggestions, assistance and leadership by volunteers! Pick up a list of upcoming programs and activities already in place that you can join at the Hopkins County Agri-Life Extension office at 1200 West Houston Street in Sulphur Springs or phone 903-885-3443.

Johanna with Intern Aida Ugalde

Author: Enola Gay

Has enjoyed working for KSST since 1989. Hosts the Good Morning Show with Enola Gay on weekday mornings from 6-9am, so 'start your day with Enola Gay'! Guest interviews during the Morning Show can also be seen in playback on Cable Channel 18 TV. Along with local country music fan Benny Potter, co-produces 1230 West, a Country and Western Swing radio show which airs weekly on Saturdays from 7-8am and repeats on Thursdays from 7-8pm. Also writes "At the Corral Gate", a column appearing weekly in The Millennium Shopper and in the Lifestyles section of ksstradio.com.

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Johanna and Mario Host Extension Leadership Workshop - KSST (press release) (registration) (blog)

BWX Technologies subsidiary BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada (BWXT NEC) has secured a new contract to supply seven primary heat transport motors for six nuclear reactors operated by electricity company Bruce Power.

The deal isvalued at C$34m ($27m) andis a part of Bruce Powers life-extension programme, which isexpected to ensure continuous supply of clean, low-cost, and reliable electricity to Ontario, Canada.

BWXT NEC will be responsible for project management, engineering, and manufacturing of the seven 11,000hp motors, which are employed to drive the main circulating pumps used to push heavy water through the reactor core into the steam generators.

The first motor of this order is scheduled to be delivered by mid-2018.

"BWXT NEC will be responsible for project management, engineering, and manufacturing of the seven 11,000hp motors."

Bruce Power president and CEO Mike Rencheck said: Partnering with BWXT NECfor this important motor work is critical to ensuring the life extension and operation through 2064.

Planning and preparation is key to our continued on-time and on-budget performance since January 2016 when our life extension programme was started.

With the new extension, Bruce Power aims to create and sustain 22,000 direct and indirect jobs every year. It is also expected to create C$4bn ($3.1bn) in annual economic benefit for Ontario.

Currently, Bruce Power fulfils 30% ofthe province'selectricity demand.

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BWXT NEC to provide seven heat transport motors for Bruce Power reactors - Power Technology

EBR Staff Writer Published 04 August 2017

GE has inked a 12-year agreement with Daya Bay Nuclear Power Operations and Management (DNMC) to help boost reliability and profitability of three Chinese nuclear power plants.

Under the terms of the multiyear agreement (MYA), GEs Power Services business will provide services to DNMCs Daya Bay, Ling Dong and Ling Ao nuclear power plants which make up the Daya Bay nuclear power base.

The services would be for steam turbines, generators and auxiliary systems of the three nuclear plants located in the Dapeng Peninsula on the coast of South China Sea.

As per the agreement, GE will provide engineering support, spare parts, on-site service, repair and life extension services for the steam turbines.

Through the MYA, the Chinese nuclear plants are expected to deliver sustainable electricity for the Guangdong Province, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

It will also help in reducing the operating costs per unit kilowatt-hour of the nuclear power plants while saving on fuel costs. Besides, the MYA is expected to bring in sustained operating performance along with stability and profitability for the long-term.

GE Power Services business in China general manager Xu Xin said: "We collaborate with our customers to tailor MYA solutions that are unique to their needs.

Each MYA solution is customized to meet the unique needs of different power plants. Our goal is to bring long-term value to power plants, like the Daya Bay nuclear plant, with agreements focused on key metrics for the equipment such as availability, operational flexibility and efficiency.

DNMC and GE have been collaborating on the Daya Bay nuclear power base for the last 30 years.

DNMC deputy general manager Li Zhishen said: The MYA we signed with GEan industry leader in power equipment development, manufacturing, repair and maintenancewill help us steadily uplift equipment reliability and operating performance.

The Chinese nuclear power base was originally built with Alstom whose power business was acquired by GE in 2015. GE, since then, has grown its total plant solutions portfolio which includes its services platform dubbed Fleet360 andaddition ofnew technology capabilities for nuclear power plants.

Image: GE signs MYA to service equipment at the Daya Bay nuclear power base. Photo: courtesy of General Electric.

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GE inks multiyear service agreement for Daya Bay nuclear power base in China - Energy Business Review

Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE:HL)

Q2 2017 Earnings Conference Call

August 03, 2017, 10:00 AM ET

Executives

Mike Westerlund - VP, IR

Phil Baker - President & CEO

Lindsay Hall - SVP & CFO

Larry Radford - SVP, Operations

Dean McDonald - SVP, Exploration

Analysts

Ted Beachley - FBR Capital Markets

Heiko Ihle - Rodman & Renshaw

Eliot Glazer - Wm Smith & Co

Matthew Fields - Bank of America

Mark Mihaljevic - RBC Capital Markets

Operator

Good day ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Second Quarter 2017 Hecla Mining Company Earnings Conference Call.

At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we'll conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will follow at that time. [Operator instructions]. As a reminder, this call may be recorded.

I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Mike Westerlund, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Mike Westerlund

Thank you, operator. Welcome everyone, and thank you for joining us for Hecla's second quarter 2017 financial and operations results conference call. Our financial results news release that was issued this morning before market opened, along with our exploration release and San Sebastian releases issued on August 2nd, and today's presentation are available on our website.

On today's call we have Phil Baker, President and CEO; Lindsay Hall, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Larry Radford, Senior Vice President, Operations; and Dean McDonald, Senior Vice President, Exploration.

Any forward-looking statements made today by the management team come under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and constitute forward-looking information under Canadian securities law, as shown on slide two. Such statements include projections and goals which are likely to involve risks detailed in our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, and in the forward-looking disclaimer included in the news release and at the beginning of the presentation. These risks could cause results to differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. In addition, in our filings with the SEC, we are only allowed to disclose reserves which are mineral deposits that can economically and legally extract or produce. Investors are cautioned about our use of terms such as measured, indicated, and inferred resources, and we urge you to consider the disclosures that we make in our SEC filings.

With that, I will pass the call to Phil Baker.

Phil Baker

Thanks, Mike. Hello, everyone. We had a very good quarter, and in many respects, it's very much in line with our plans, except for our tax provision. And there's also some positive recent developments that I'd like to start by highlighting.

First, we secured the Velardena mill at our San Sebastian mine through 2020. And San Sebastian has really been a great creator of value for shareholders, which given its growth in production, very low cash costs, and all-in sustaining costs after by-product credits, it's given substantial cash flow, triple-digit returns, and it's also -- now we're seeing mine life extension to this property.

Last year, San Sebastian was an important cash flow generator, and this year that continues, albeit at a lower amount, as expected. And it looks like that performance will continue for three more years through 2020. And I'm sure that's not going to be the end. At this point, our focus has only been on the cyanide-amenable ores. Now we're looking at sulfide ores to combine with the already-discovered Hugh Zone. There's a lot more I can say about it, but I'm going to let Larry and Dean speak about that later.

Our mines operated according to plan in the first half of the year. The lower grades were anticipated at the mines due to mine sequencing, and at Casa Berardi, the second half not only has higher grades, but also reduced stripping costs. So, we expect significant free cash flow from that property.

At Greens Creek, the TCs and RC terms for zinc and lead are very much improved in 2017, and we'll start seeing really the effects of that over the second half of the year. And of course, we've seen a nice increase in the zinc and lead prices, which represent about 20% of our revenue.

The performances of Greens Creek and San Sebastian's have translated directly into cash cost per ounce of $0.26 and all-in sustaining cost per ounce of $9.97 net of byproduct credits. So, basically, Hecla's generating $6 of margin for every ounce produced. Not many in the industry have such low costs. And as a result of that, we really have seen great share price performance compared to our peers.

We pre-released our preliminary results in late June, and our operating results and those financial results are as expected. And calculating the income tax provision, including in those preliminary results, we use the existing statutory rate, given that we could not estimate what our actual effective income tax rate for the quarter would be, and we're reporting them today.

It may seem surprising that we have such a high tax provision on negative pre-tax income. And Lindsay will explain it, but basically, we calculate the estimate for the year, and then apply the effective tax rate to the current quarter because pre-tax income is more negative than what we'll have for the year since we're expecting such a strong second half.

As expected, our capital expenditures are down 43% this quarter as we have completed the #4 Shaft, and we've reduced the Lucky Friday spending due to the strike. Interestingly, the capital is a pretty good match to available cash flow since we still have more than $200 million of cash on the balance sheet.

Now, let me talk for a minute about the strike at the Lucky Friday. I'm disappointed that it's not resolved, but we're determined to manage the mine like we manage all of our mines. And the only real issue with the union, the only real issue with respect to the strike is who gets to determine where people work, with whom they work, and when they work. And why is this so important?

Because we just view these as fundamental activities of management, and it's what we do at every other mine. And we believe that, with our managers having this capability, they will be able to increase productivity, and therefore profitability of the mine.

The impact of the loss of production at the mine due to the strike is minimal, given the margin of the mine at this time and the financial strength Hecla has, particularly when we consider that we're setting this mine up to operate successfully for the next 30 years.

And so, with that, I'm going to pass the call over to Lindsay.

Lindsay Hall

Thanks, Phil. Firstly, just like to highlight that, when you look at the second quarter results on Slide 5, it is important to keep in mind that the strike at Lucky Friday has impacted many of the comparative numbers.

For the three months ended June 30th, 2017, we reported $134 million in sales of products, a 22% decrease in revenue over the same period of 2016, as shown on Slide 5, as a result of lower metals production partially offset by higher base metal prices.

Factors to be noted in the second quarter results compared to the previous year's quarter was interest expense of $10.5 million, which was higher as capitalization of interest ceased once the construction of the #4 Shaft was completed at the end of 2016. Also, this quarter, we had budgeted higher exploration and pre-development costs of $6.9 million than the previous quarter.

Getting into the quarter, net loss applicable to common shareholders was $24.2 million. Contributing to the loss were a couple of unusual items reported in the quarter. Rather than Lucky Friday generating operating income in the quarter, we incurred $6.4 million in costs related to the suspension of mining activities, plus an additional $1.5 million of non-cash depreciation expense.

Suspension costs would be around $1.1 million to $1.5 million per month if the company had elected to do very limited production or just carry maintenance. So, as you can see, we're still in mode of reducing those suspension costs. Each and every month the run rate gets a little better.

We also booked an income tax provision of $16 million, which is unusual given that we had a loss before taxes of $7.9 million. Normally you would expect a recovery of taxes rather than a provision. But given our view of our tax losses going forward, we did not book any benefit in the quarter regarding tax losses being generated, which would have helped offset the income taxes owed in Canada and Mexico.

Turning to cash flows, the second quarter of 2017 provided positive operating cash flows of $7.5 million in spite of the expected lower metals production, payment of interest on the senior notes, payment of incentive compensation related to prior year's performance, and payment of estimated income taxes in Mexico.

Capital expenditures amounted to $24 million for the quarter. For the full half-year, our cash flow from operations amounted to $46 million, which funded the like amount of capital expenditures of $46 million. So, we continued to generate cash and reinvest at our various operations, and in exploration activities both at our mines and at our other exploration properties.

During the quarter, we accessed the at-market -- the ATM, or At-The-Market facility and raised some $9.6 million of cash that was earmarked for various corporate initiatives. Company-wide cash cost after by-product credits per silver ounce declined 93% from last year to $0.26, and the all-in sustaining cash cost after by-product credits also declined to $9.97.

So, our margins in silver, which generated the cash flows, remained some of the best in the business. At the end of the quarter, cash and cash-like investments totaled $201 million, which was some $11 million lower than the beginning of the quarter.

On Slide 6, just briefly, you can see we maintained that diversified revenue stream, with gold at 47%, silver 33%, and lead and zinc at a combined 20%. Greens Creek continues to be the dominant source of revenue.

Moving to Slide 7, as you can see on the left slide of Slide 7, our adjusted EBITDA on a last 12 months' basis is up 37% over the second quarter of 2016, and the net debt to EBITDA has been maintained at a solid 1.3 times. We have about $300 million in liquidity, including an undrawn $100 million line of credit.

Our only debt outstanding comes due in 2021. We did test the waters to push out our debt maturity, but the terms are not as good as we expected. And rather than close the bad deal for the equity holders, we canceled the bond refinancing deal and will wait on improved interest rate environment.

That said, we are committed to using the credit strength of our company to achieve a commensurate reduction in our interest expense that we're currently incurring. We did extend the revolving line of credit out two more years, and S&P recognized our credit strength by improving our debt rating to B, which shows that they feel we're on the right track to our goal of achieving investment-grade status.

So, in summary, despite the strike at Lucky Friday, we continue to enjoy a strong balance sheet, excellent silver cash cost after by-product credits and all-in sustaining costs, and are optimistic about the potential for the rest of the year and beyond.

With that, I'll now pass it on to Larry to talk about the operations.

Larry Radford

Thanks, Lindsay. On Slide 9, you can see Greens Creek had another excellent quarter, producing 1.9 million ounces of silver at a cost of sales of $54 million and a cash cost after by-product credits of $1.86 per silver ounce.

The all-in sustaining cost after by-product credits was $8.71 an ounce. The lower production was due to lower grades than the second quarter of 2016, as was expected, and the prices of our by-products helped with the cost numbers.

On Slide 10, you can see our Teleremote LHD in action at Greens Creek. The LHD has successfully been operated remotely from surface in a long-haul application, mucking by itself and hauling to an ore pass, all automatically, with the operator simply pressing the button on each cycle to continue mucking.

We are studying the application of the unit to drift and fill stopes, with the goal of having faces ready for the entry of the bolter at the start of the shift. Bolting is generally the bottleneck in the mine.

We installed the first Woodgrove staged flotation reactor in the lead bulk circuit at Greens Creek, as you can see on Slide 11. The commissioning has gone well, and we expect to benefit in the form of increasing revenues in the second half of the year, particularly in the fourth quarter, with the goal of driving the metals to the bulk concentrate for which there are better smelter terms. With the successful commissioning of this unit, we believe that there's further opportunity for additional units in the zinc and lead rougher circuits.

As Phil noted, the strike continues at Lucky Friday, but we are not idle there. Crews have continued doing needed maintenance in #2 Shaft, completed a needed bypass ramp, and performed limited stope mining and backfilling. We continue to make investments to improve the mine, as noted by Lindsay. This is why our suspension costs are higher than they would be in care and maintenance.

On Slide 13, Casa Berardi is on plan for the year. In fact, mine plan compliance has never been better. As a result, we maintain our guidance for Casa Berardi for the year. A quick review of the guidance will highlight that production for the year is heavily weighted towards the second half. This was the plan from the beginning, and we are executing it.

Lower underground grades in the second quarter resulted in a decrease of gold production by 21% over the prior year period, but we expect grades will climb in the third quarter. In fact, they are climbing now. Additionally, the open pit grade will rise some in the second half, and the expense tons stripped should fall, improving both cash costs and all-in sustaining costs.

The big story at Casa is the increased throughput that has been made possible by introducing open pit material, more than 100% since we acquired the mine, as seen on Slide 14.

The plant throughput this quarter, 3,628 tons per day, is a record at the mine, but we're not stopping there. The team continues to look into increasing the throughput further. For example, we are currently running a throughput trial, which is a method for adding additional grinding horsepower.

A side optimization process has begun. This optimization process involves modeling of the mill and open pits, and a determination of the optimum open pit underground feed mix. The work will be ongoing throughout the year and should be completed by the end of the year.

In addition, automation of the 985 drift, which is under construction as shown on Slide 15, is on track for commissioning by the end of the year. All breakthroughs for the drift are completed, and chute and communication equipment installation are ongoing.

This drift should ultimately result in the reduction of trucks and associated maintenance and personnel costs. The first of the two 40-tonne Sandvik trucks has been delivered to site and should be operational by year-end, with a second truck going into operation in 2018.

San Sebastian continues to impress, as you can see on Slide 16. In its first year of operation, it generated twice as much cash flow as was expected. In the second quarter, it generated about $8 million of free cash flow from 867,000 ounces of silver at a cost of sales of $5.1 million, the cash cost after by-product credits of negative $3.31 per silver ounce and an all-in sustaining cost after by-product credits of $0.06 per silver ounce.

The team is on track to begin underground ore production by the end of 2017, as shown on Slide 17. This is one of the few mines in the world that is expected to be cash flow positive in its first year going underground, which is a testament to the high-grade material and the skilled team we have in Mexico.

I particularly want to highlight the news that we have secured the mill contract for another two years through our excellent exploration efforts, we have identified what we believe is sufficient material to fill the mill into 2020. So, the big takeaway today is that San Sebastian should continue operating for the foreseeable future, and we are looking forward to its cash flow impact for years to come.

I will now pass the call over to Dean.

Dean McDonald

Thanks, Larry. Hecla has a very busy quarter with the drill bit, with successes at San Sebastian, Casa Berardi, and Greens Creek. A list of drill intersections is provided in the appendix of the exploration release. These results will give you insights to where we may have future gains in reserves and resources.

The San Sebastian property continues to generate multiple opportunities to find new high-grade resources to extend mine life. On Slide 20, you can see the current middle, north, and Francine Vein pits in the yellow outlines, the surface projection of the new West Middle Vein reserve, the new underground ramp under development in black, and the green ellipsis, where drilling is defining new reserves and resources.

Of note in the diagram is the West and East extensions of the Middle Vein and the East Francine Vein, where drilling continues to expand resources and reserves, and is expected to be a large contributor to prolonged production at San Sebastian.

Slide 21 shows the longitudinal section of the Middle Vein, with over 9,000 feet of continuous mineralization. Recent drilling at the west end of the reserve, as outlined by rectangles on the left of the diagram, has defined some high-grade mineralized pods near the proposed production ramp.

This drilling may also represent the upper fringe of a base metal-rich Hugh Zone-style mineralization that we predict from temperature data will be at the elevation as defined by the ellipse in the diagram. Drilling at the east end of the Middle Vein recently returned high-grade intersections that are expected to expand the resource that is near the high-grade East Francine Vein.

Drilling about 1,000 East of the East Francine pit, as shown in the longitudinal on Slide 22, continues to intersect high-grade mineralized vein that is 300 feet from surface and can be traced for 700 feet along strike and 550 feet down dip.

Intersections include 0.7 ounces per ton gold and 288 ounces per ton silver over 4.6 feet. It is open to the east and at depth, and step-out drilling is continuing. These new East Francine and Middle Vein resources are close together and could represent a new mining area.

During the quarter at Casa Berardi, we have eight drills operating within the longitudinal shown on Slide 23, underground drilling focused on expanding reserves and resources and defining completely new resources.

Drilling at the bottom of the mine shows multiple high-grade lenses of the 118 and 123 zones extend below the workings. Up to three drills on surface confirm the continuity and expanded near-surface mineralization of the 124, 134, East Mine Crown Pillar, and 160 zones that will determine the viability of these areas for expanded open pit mining.

A new near-surface resource is also developing in the west in the northwest area. The red arrows in the longitudinal project the extensions of many mineralized zones down-plunge throughout the mine and show the huge potential to extend the life of Casa Berardi.

The plan map in Slide 24 shows a series of proposed and planned open pits along the Casa Berardi fault, which is why we're so excited about the open pit potential along this trend. What is also promising is that the higher-grade mineralization appears to extend from these areas to [depth], opening the potential for additional underground mining on these bodies, as well.

The most advanced area for a new pit is the 160 zone to the east of the East Mine Crown Pillar, as shown in Slide 25. Recent drilling has shown continuity of the mineralization, resulting in a revised resource and possible pit design to follow. We plan to evaluate the entire Casa Berardi fault corridor from surface to search for more open pits and to test if we can combine them into larger, more productive pits.

Elsewhere in the company, drilling at Greens Creek continues at the East Ore of the play, West 9A and Deep Southwest zones to define new reserves closer to surface and the mine portal, as shown on Slide 26.

And with this, I'll pass the call back to Phil now for closing comments.

Phil Baker

Thanks, Dean. The three mines continue to perform well. They're according to plan, and we see the second half of the year being quite strong. We're able to live with the strike without bending our balance sheet because of the strength of our other assets.

We continue to innovate to increase safety, productivity, and improve our cost structure. We've extended the life of San Sebastian, and we're increasing our exploration efforts there even further. So, stay tuned for all this.

And so, with all that, we're in good shape for the third quarter, and we'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

Thank you. [Operator instructions] And our first question comes from Lucas Pipes from FB&R Company. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Pardon me, Mr. Pipes, your line is now open.

Ted Beachley

Sorry about that. Ted Beachley here for Lucas. And we were just wondering, why did you guys use the ATM this quarter?

Phil Baker

We periodically will use it for discreet obligations we have, and in this case, we applied it to the pension plan. And you'll see us do that periodically. It's just a way to deal with some long-term sorts of liabilities, is how we've used it, and we did the same thing in the past. We did the same thing about a year ago.

Ted Beachley

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Hecla Mining's (HL) CEO Phil Baker on Q2 2017 Results - Earnings Call Transcript - Seeking Alpha