Hecla Mining to standardise global operations on IFS Applications

Issued by IFS
Johannesburg, 15 Aug 2007

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, announced today that Hecla Mining Company has signed a contract to implement IFS Applications at its Coeur d'Alene, Idaho headquarters, with plans to expand the implementation to facilities in Vancouver, British Columbia, Venezuela and Mexico.

Hecla Mining Company, a precious metals company, engages in the discovery, acquisition, development, production, and marketing of mineral resources. The company explores and develops mineral properties and mines and processes silver, gold, lead and zinc.

"At our headquarters, we had been using a legacy system that had been custom programmed in the 1970s and 1980s. We were using different business software products at our other facilities worldwide," Hecla Controller Allan MacPhee said.

"We picked IFS since we needed the functionality and capability of a tier-one solution, and we required greater agility and ease of implementation than other enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications could deliver. Our management team was delighted that IFS' service-oriented component architecture provides a very powerful and flexible solution without the high maintenance of more traditional tier-one products.

"We also feel the reporting capabilities of IFS Applications, combined with the ability to run our operation worldwide on a single instance of the applications and on the same database, will make compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley that much easier."

"Hecla Mining, like most companies, is facing increased regulation, globalisation and complexity," IFS North America President and CEO Cindy Jaudon said.

"Because they do not have unlimited budgets and information technology staff, they do not want to struggle with additional complexity in their ERP product. In order to meet the agility needs of these 21st century businesses, we engineered IFS Applications to be the first enterprise application built from the ground up on a service-oriented component architecture, and will continue to invest in our product to serve our customers even better in the future."

Hecla Mining Company

Established in 1891 in northern Idaho's Silver Valley, Hecla Mining Company's rich history of mining has distinguished it as a respected precious metals producer. Now headquartered in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, this international, publicly traded company is 116 years old.

In 2006, Hecla was the lowest-cost primary silver producer in North America, producing 5.5 million ounces of silver at an average total cash cost of 24 cents per ounce. Hecla also produced 179 276 ounces of gold at an average total cash cost of $345 per ounce. The company has exploration properties and operating mines in four major world-class mining districts. Hecla's excellent exploration prospects, operating expertise, minimal debt and good cash position make this an excellent precious metals investment vehicle.

Hecla mines, processes and explores for silver and gold in the United States, Mexico and Venezuela. Hecla currently produces silver from two silver mines, Greens Creek and Lucky Friday, as well as mining gold at the La Camorra Unit in Venezuela. In 2006, the Greens Creek mine in Alaska contributed 2.6 million ounces of silver to Hecla's account, and the Lucky Friday mine in northern Idaho produced 2.9 million ounces. The La Camorra Unit in Venezuela produced 160 563 ounces of gold in 2006. Hecla has long been well-known in the United States as a major primary silver producer and quality gold producer. The name "Hecla" is commonly associated with both precious metals by investors. Hecla's common stock has been traded on the New York Stock Exchange for over 40 years under the symbol "HL".

IFS

IFS (OMX STO: IFS), the global enterprise applications company, provides ERP solutions that enable organisations to respond quickly to market changes. The solutions allow resources to be used in a more agile way to achieve better business performance and competitive advantage.

Founded in 1983, IFS has 2 600 employees worldwide. With IFS Applications now in its seventh generation, IFS has pioneered component-based ERP software. The component architecture provides solutions that are easier to implement, run and upgrade. IFS Applications is available in 54 countries in 22 languages.

IFS has more than 600 000 users across seven key vertical sectors: aerospace & defence; automotive; hi-tech; industrial manufacturing; process industries; construction; contracting; service & facilities management; and utilities & telecom. IFS Applications provides extended ERP functionality, including CRM, SCM, PLM, CPM, enterprise asset management, and MRO capabilities.

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