Idaho Mining Companies: 8 Producers and Developers

Idaho mining companies at a glance

Hecla Mining is the biggest silver producer among Idaho mining companies: its Lucky Friday mine made a record 5.26 million ounces of silver in 2025 (Hecla fourth-quarter 2025 release), while the Idaho Geological Survey puts the Galena Complex of Americas Gold and Silver at about 1.5 million ounces for 2024. Bunker Hill Mining shipped its first concentrate on 31 July 2026, and Sunshine Silver Mining & Refining is working towards a restart of the Sunshine Mine in late 2028. Gold and antimony developers such as Idaho Strategic Resources, Perpetua Resources and Integra Resources complete the list.

This page compares eight companies that run, rebuild or develop a mine in Idaho, shows what each one reports, and adds a silver price chart, a history chart and a calculator for ore grade and recovery. Silver is quoted in troy ounces (oz) or million ounces (Moz). Grade in the Silver Valley is quoted in ounces of silver per short ton (opt), where one short ton is 2,000 pounds. All figures are from company filings and releases, the Idaho Geological Survey (IGS) and the US Geological Survey (USGS), and each carries its date. Not investment advice.

How we chose these eight

We listed companies that either produce metal from an Idaho mine today, are rebuilding a closed Idaho mine, or have an Idaho project with a filed feasibility study or an approved plan. The IGS annual review of the state’s industry (December 2025) names the same silver operators, and its map of development projects names the gold and antimony names (IGS Staff Report 26-01 supplement). The order follows the silver question most readers ask first: who produces, who restarts, and who is still studying.

We left out private companies that publish no mine data, exploration-only juniors with no resource estimate, and Idaho’s phosphate producers, which are fertilizer rather than metal businesses (Simplot, Itafos and Bayer run the western phosphate field, according to the IGS). Each company’s own filings are the source for its numbers. We give no price targets and no rating.

Silver mines in Idaho: producers, restarts and developers

Idaho’s silver comes from the Silver Valley, the Coeur d’Alene mining district in the northern panhandle. Since 1884 the district has produced more than 1.18 billion ounces of silver, along with lead, zinc, copper and antimony (Idaho State University, Digital Geology of Idaho). Of 90 mines that operated there over the years, only two were still running in 2007, the Lucky Friday and the Galena. Today the district has two producers, one mine in ramp-up and one large closed mine in the study stage. For a deeper look at the main producer, see our guide to the Hecla Lucky Friday mine.

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Lucky Friday silver production, selected years

Million ounces of silver; 2022 and 2023 not shown

Hecla Mining: Lucky Friday

Best for: readers who want an operating Idaho silver mine inside a larger, listed producer. Hecla (NYSE: HL) is headquartered in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and also runs Greens Creek in Alaska and Keno Hill in the Yukon (Hecla second-quarter 2026 results, 4 August 2026).

• Output: Lucky Friday made 5.26 Moz of silver in 2025, up from 4.89 Moz in 2024, at a silver cash cost of $8.66 per ounce and an all-in sustaining cost of $21.98 per ounce, both after by-product credits (Hecla, fourth-quarter 2025 release). Hecla’s 2026 guidance, tightened in August 2026, is 4.9 to 5.2 Moz.
• Latest quarter: 1.53 Moz in the second quarter of 2026 from 101,978 short tons milled at 15.6 opt, with record quarterly silver production for the mine and cash flow after capital spending of $88 million at the site (Hecla, 4 August 2026).
• Ore base: the IGS lists more than 62 Moz of silver reserves at 11.9 opt, mined from the Gold Hunter vein system, and Hecla gives a reserve mine life of fifteen years (IGS, December 2025; Hecla, fourth-quarter 2025 release).
• Cons: a long strike closed the mine from March 2017 until January 2020, and it reached full production only by the end of 2020 (IGS Staff Report 23-02). The mine is also building a surface cooling plant, which was 88% complete at the end of the second quarter.

At about 164 tonnes, Lucky Friday’s 2025 output equals roughly 15% of the 1,100 tonnes of silver the USGS estimates US mines produced that year (our conversion; USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026). The USGS names Alaska as the leading silver-producing state, followed by Nevada.

Americas Gold and Silver: Galena Complex and Crescent Mine

Best for: readers who want a smaller Idaho producer with a rebuild plan and antimony by-product. Americas Gold and Silver (TSX: USA; NYSE American: USAS) owns 100% of the Galena Complex after buying out its Sprott partner in December 2024 and bought the permitted, past-producing Crescent Silver Mine about 9 miles away in December 2025 (Americas Gold and Silver, Galena Complex).

• Output: Galena made about 328,000 oz of silver in the second quarter of 2026, against about 420,000 oz a year earlier, after a planned shaft shutdown and a minor electrical fire (Americas Gold and Silver, 14 August 2026).
• Upgrades: the No. 3 shaft work raised hoisting capacity by about 150%, with sustained rates of 85 short tons per hour (same release).
• Antimony: the company reports a joint venture with US Antimony, 51% Americas and 49% US Antimony, to build an antimony processing plant at Galena, signed 10 February 2026 (company site).
• Cons: the 2026 guidance of 3.2 to 3.6 Moz of silver covers the group, including its Cosalá mine in Mexico, not Idaho alone, and consolidated all-in sustaining cost was $40.63 per ounce in the second quarter against a guided $30 to $35 for the year.

The Galena Complex has produced more than 240 Moz of silver over 50 years, according to the company. The IGS put its 2024 production at about 1.5 Moz.

Bunker Hill Mining: Bunker Hill Mine, Kellogg

Best for: readers who follow restarts of historic zinc-lead-silver mines. The mine was discovered in 1885 and has historic silver production of about 165 Moz, according to the IGS; Bunker Hill Mining says it stopped operating more than 45 years ago.

• Restart: on 31 July 2026 the company shipped its first concentrate to Teck’s Trail smelter in British Columbia, from a new 1,800 short-ton-per-day mill in Kellogg. It targets full commercial production by the end of 2026 (Bunker Hill Mining, 31 July 2026).
• Merger: on 21 August 2026 Bunker Hill agreed to buy Silver47, whose projects are in New Mexico, Nevada and Alaska. Silver47 holders would receive 0.1724 Bunker Hill shares per share, giving a 57%/43% split of the combined company, to be renamed Bunker Hill Silver Corp. The Silver47 shareholder meeting must be held by 15 November 2026 (Bunker Hill Form 8-K, 21 August 2026).
• Cons: the mill is still in commissioning, the company drew US$5 million on a Teck standby facility in July, and the merger needs court and shareholder approval.

Sunshine Silver Mining & Refining: Sunshine Mine

Best for: readers who want a pure-silver development story. The Sunshine Mine near Kellogg has produced about 367 Moz of silver, probably more than any other single silver mine in the world, and closed in 2001 (Idaho State University). Sunshine Silver (NYSE: SSMR) listed on 4 June 2026 after selling 20 million shares at US$13.50 and raising US$270 million. Electrum Group keeps about 61% of the voting power (Spokane Journal of Business, 18 June 2026).

• Plan: the feasibility study is due in the second quarter of 2027, with a return to silver production in late 2028 if a final investment decision is positive. A new mill of up to 2,000 short tons per day is under study, and a 50,000-meter infill drilling program was about 60% complete in July 2026 (Sunshine Silver, 12 August 2026).
• Target: the company states about 6.7 Moz of silver a year in the first five years, which would make it the second-largest primary silver mine in the US (company claim, as reported by the Spokane Journal). It also studies an antimony plant of up to 34.5 million pounds a year.
• Cons: no mine is in production yet, the cash balance was $288.7 million at 30 June 2026, and the timeline depends on the 2027 study.

Gold, antimony and silver-gold projects beyond the Silver Valley

Idaho’s other metal projects sit in the Murray gold belt, the Stibnite district, the Owyhee Mountains and the Salmon region. Our guide to gold deposits in Idaho covers the districts in more detail.

Idaho Strategic Resources

Best for: readers who want an Idaho-based gold producer with a rare earth exploration land package. Idaho Strategic (NYSE American: IDR) reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $10,732,335 and 3,047 oz of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of $2,261.81 per ounce; it processed 11,094 tonnes of ore at a flotation feed grade of 7.89 g/t gold (Idaho Strategic, 13 August 2026). The company is building a new mill and tailings facility at the Golden Chest and describes its rare earth holdings as the largest such land package in the United States.

Perpetua Resources

Best for: readers focused on US antimony supply. Perpetua (Nasdaq and TSX: PPTA) holds all federal permits for the Stibnite Gold Project in central Idaho, with gold reserves of about 4.8 Moz and a 148-million-pound antimony reserve, which the company calls the only identified antimony reserve in the US (Perpetua, Clean Water Act permit release). The Export-Import Bank of the United States approved a $2.9 billion loan on 21 May 2026 (Perpetua, 21 May 2026). The plan includes restoring a legacy-disturbed site. The main risk is delivery: construction, equipment fabrication and the schedule.

Integra Resources: DeLamar

Best for: readers who want Idaho silver exposure inside a gold-equivalent project. DeLamar in Owyhee County is a past producer with about 1 million ounces of gold and more than 100 Moz of silver historically (IGS). The February 2026 feasibility study outlines 1.1 million ounces of gold equivalent over a 10-year open-pit heap leach life, an after-tax net present value of about $774 million and a 46% internal rate of return at base-case prices of $3,000 per ounce gold and $35 per ounce silver (Integra Resources, 2 February 2026). Those are study assumptions, not today’s prices. According to the IGS, the mine plan of operations went to the Bureau of Land Management in July 2025 and was judged administratively complete in August 2025.

Revival Gold and others

Revival Gold (TSXV: RVG) is advancing the Beartrack-Arnett project in Lemhi County, with a 2023 pre-feasibility study showing 2.4 Moz of gold measured and indicated and 2.2 Moz inferred (IGS; Revival Gold). Liberty Gold’s Black Pine project in Cassia County had a 2024 pre-feasibility study showing 2.2 Moz of gold over 17 years. In the Idaho Cobalt Belt, Jervois’s Idaho Cobalt Operations have been on care and maintenance since 2024 (IGS, December 2025).

Idaho silver stocks and how to read their filings

Readers who search for Idaho silver stocks usually want to know what separates the names above. The filings show four differences that matter more than the ticker.

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Average silver price, 2021 to 2025

US$ per troy ounce, annual average of the bullion price; 2025 is a USGS estimate

• Producer or developer. Hecla and Americas report silver ounces and costs every quarter. Sunshine Silver and Perpetua report spending and study milestones, and have no mine revenue yet.
• Where the silver comes from. Lucky Friday is one of three Hecla silver mines. Americas’ guidance includes a Mexican mine. Sunshine Silver is the only pure-silver name on the list, and Bunker Hill sells zinc, lead and silver concentrates.
• Cost per ounce. Compare all-in sustaining cost with the silver price on the same date. Hecla reported $17.08 per ounce at Lucky Friday in the second quarter of 2026; Americas reported $40.63 for the group.
• Funding and control. Sunshine Silver is a controlled company, with Electrum holding about 61% of the vote, and Bunker Hill’s merger will issue new shares. Read the dilution tables in the 8-K and 10-Q filings.

Silver is also volatile. The USGS puts the 2025 average at about $38 per troy ounce, up from $28.37 in 2024 (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026). The Spokane Journal of Business, quoting Hecla’s first-quarter 2026 report, gave an average of $84.39 for that quarter, and Kitco’s spot bid was $53.70 per ounce at 7:33 a.m. New York time on 28 October 2026 (Kitco). A company’s results depend heavily on the price in the quarter it reports.

Silver was added to the USGS and Interior Department list of critical minerals in November 2025, alongside lead, copper, phosphate and uranium (US Department of the Interior, 7 November 2025). The Spokane Journal expects north Idaho silver companies to benefit from faster permitting, but the listing guarantees no price or profit. The calculator below turns a quarter’s milled tons, grade and recovery into ounces and gross value, so you can test a company’s reported numbers against your own price view.

Idaho silver mining history: key dates

The history explains why so many Idaho names are restarts. The dates below come from the Idaho State University geology module, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality’s Superfund history page and the IGS.

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Historic silver production, Idaho mines and the district

Million ounces of silver produced to date; Comstock Lode (Nevada) shown for comparison

1. 1878: gold is found on the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River, and the rush fades within a few years.
2. 1884 to 1885: the first major lead-zinc-silver discovery is staked, and all the major mines are found within about a year, including the Sunshine and Bunker Hill (Idaho State University).
3. 1917: the Bunker Hill company builds a lead smelter in Kellogg, and a zinc plant follows in 1928 (Idaho State University).
4. 1972: a fire at the Sunshine Mine kills 91 miners, one of the worst mining disasters in US history.
5. 1983: the Environmental Protection Agency lists the Bunker Hill site on the National Priorities List; the Superfund area now covers over 1,500 square miles and has been under cleanup for decades (Idaho Department of Environmental Quality).
6. 2001: the Sunshine Mine closes after low silver prices and operating problems.
7. 2017 to 2020: a strike closes Lucky Friday from March 2017, and it ends in January 2020 (IGS).
8. 2025 to 2026: silver joins the critical minerals list, Sunshine Silver lists on the NYSE and Bunker Hill ships concentrate again.

The ore lies in veins of siderite, quartz and sulfides, including silver-rich tetrahedrite and galena, in 1.4-billion-year-old Belt Supergroup rocks, and the veins extend over a mile below the surface (Idaho State University). Our overview of silver mining trends puts the district in a global context.

Idaho mining industry: how big is it

The USGS valued Idaho’s non-fuel mineral production at $553 million in 2020 and $655 million in 2021, which ranked the state 36th and 35th in the US. Silver and phosphate rock, the state’s two best-known commodities, were reported only as “concealed” for proprietary reasons, so their separate values are not public (IGS Staff Report 23-02). The IGS calls Idaho historically one of the country’s top silver producers.

In the US as a whole, the USGS estimates 1,100 tonnes of mine silver in 2025, from 4 silver mines and 31 base- and precious-metal operations in 12 states. Employment at US mines and mills was an estimated 1,300 people (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026). The IGS lists Lucky Friday silver reserves above 62 Moz and a global resource of more than 200 Moz at Galena (December 2025).

Before you stake or buy ground in Idaho

On federal land, a miner holds rights through an unpatented mining claim under the Mining Law of 1872. The Bureau of Land Management oversaw more than 40,000 active claims, 39 authorized plans of operation and 32 exploration notices in Idaho as of 2025. A claimant must locate the claim, record it in the county and send a copy to the BLM State Office, then pay a maintenance fee on or before 1 September each year (BLM Idaho, Mining and Minerals). Our guide to mining claims in Idaho walks through the land-status checks.

A good rock result can still be unmineable if the ground is under a town, a road or a protected area, so check land status and ownership before spending on samples. Get the landowner’s permission, hold the license or claim you need, and never use mercury.

▶ Two minutes on why strong rock can still be unmineable when the ground is under a town or has other land-access limits. · 2:05

Using satellite imagery on Idaho ground

Satellites see the surface. They map clay and iron alteration, structure and vegetation cover across a whole claim block in one pass, which helps you rank ground before you drill or buy. The Silver Valley’s veins run more than a mile below the surface, and the IGS notes little outcrop under dense trees in the Murray gold belt, so imagery supports regional screening and land-status context but does not replace drilling or a resource estimate under NI 43-101 or S-K 1300.

Farmonaut accepts a KML, KMZ or polygon outline of your area and delivers a satellite mineral screening report in 5 to 20 business days; silver, copper and zinc are on its detectable list. See the satellite mineral detection service, request a price through the mining query form, or contact the team.

▶ Remote sensing for mining explained in about two minutes: the instruments used and why agreement between them matters. · 2:01

For another northern producing state, see Alaska mining companies, operator by operator.

Frequently asked questions

Who are the main mining companies in Idaho?

Hecla Mining (Lucky Friday), Americas Gold and Silver (Galena Complex), Bunker Hill Mining, Sunshine Silver Mining & Refining, Idaho Strategic Resources, Perpetua Resources, Integra Resources and Revival Gold are the metal names in the table above. Phosphate is mined by Simplot, Itafos and Bayer.

Which silver mines in Idaho are operating?

Two silver mines are producing: Hecla’s Lucky Friday, which made 1.53 Moz in the second quarter of 2026, and the Galena Complex, which made about 328,000 oz. Bunker Hill is ramping up, and the Sunshine Mine is in the study stage.

Which Idaho silver mining companies trade in the US?

Hecla trades as NYSE: HL, Americas Gold and Silver as NYSE American: USAS (and TSX: USA), and Sunshine Silver as NYSE: SSMR. Bunker Hill trades on the TSX and OTCQB and is pursuing a NYSE American listing. Check a live quote, because the figures change daily.

Can I invest in Idaho silver mining?

Most investors buy shares of the listed companies, whose filings show output, costs and funding. Silver price swings, financing and permitting dominate the results. This page gives facts and is not investment advice; speak to a licensed adviser.

Is the Sunshine Mine producing silver?

No. It closed in 2001. The company targets a return to silver production in late 2028 if the 2027 feasibility study and investment decision go ahead.

How much silver has Idaho produced?

The Coeur d’Alene district has produced over 1.18 billion ounces of silver since 1884, with metal worth over $2.89 billion at the time of production (Idaho State University).

Why is it called the Silver Valley?

The name describes the district along the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River in Shoshone County, which holds one of the world’s largest concentrations of silver. The Sunshine Mine sits between Kellogg and Wallace.

Is Hecla based in Idaho?

Yes. Hecla Mining’s headquarters are in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and its Lucky Friday mine is in the Silver Valley. Its other two silver mines are in Alaska and the Yukon.

Where does Idaho’s antimony come from?

Antimony is a by-product of the tetrahedrite veins at Galena and was produced at Sunshine for decades. The Stibnite project in central Idaho holds the 148-million-pound reserve that Perpetua reports.

How big is Idaho’s mining industry?

The USGS valued Idaho’s non-fuel mineral output at $655 million in 2021, ranking the state 35th. Silver and phosphate rock are the leading commodities, but their separate values are withheld.