Hecla forges ahead with Lincoln County mine

That optimism met a roadblock when the state of Montana tried to label Hecla’s former CEO, Phillips S. Baker, a “bad actor” for his involvement in a failed mine cleanup in north-central Montana. Legally designating Baker a “bad actor” would have prevented Hecla from conducting any mining activity in Montana until the state was compensated $32 million for the failed clean-up of three mines owned by Pegasus Gold Corp., where Baker was once an executive. (Baker countered that he was innocent and that he had already left Pegasus before the company went bankrupt). After Gov. Greg Gianforte took office in 2021, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality dropped its effort to blacklist Baker.