The company's gold output was down 4% year-on-year, and silver fell 5% yoy. 

The full-year result followed fourth-quarter silver and gold production of 3.23Moz and 47,977oz, showing quarter-on-quarter gains of 21% and 14%, respectively. 

BMO Capital Markets analyst Ryan Thompson said the Q4 silver production was 2% lower than BMO's forecast, while the gold production was 5% higher. 

Hecla - the largest primary silver producer in the US - operates the Greens Creek and Lucky Friday silver mines, as well as the Casa Berardi gold mine. All three are in North America.

"All three mines reported strong production, with significant production growth at Lucky Friday and Casa Berardi," Hecla's president and CEO Phillips S Baker Jr said. 

"Lucky Friday increased production by 75% over the prior year, primarily because in 2021 the mine was in full production for the entire year. In the fourth quarter, the expected higher silver grades and benefits of the new mining method delivered a 15% increase over the third quarter," he said. 

The new mining method at Lucky Friday - which produced 3.6Moz of silver in 2021 and almost 1Moz in Q4 - is the newly developed underhand-closed-bench technique, Hecla said. 

The miner said that investments throughout 2020 and 2021 into Casa Berardi helped the operation produce 11% more gold ounces than in 2020 (production was 134,510oz in 2021), while quarter-on-quarter production rose 25% to 37,266oz in Q4. 

"At the Greens Creek Mine, in 2021, 9.2Moz of silver and 46,089oz of gold were produced. For the fourth quarter, 2.3Moz of silver and 10,299oz of gold were produced," Hecla said. 

"Silver and gold production were lower for the year by 12% and 5%, respectively, primarily due to lower grades and mine sequencing, partially offset by higher mill throughput," the company said. 

It noted that grades improved in Q4.