Good morning. I'm Cassie Boggs. I am Chair of the Board of Directors of Hecla Mining Company. I welcome you all to the 2026 Annual Shareholders Meeting. I call the meeting to order. At Hecla, safety is a core value. We start each meeting appropriate that we start this meeting to our shareholders and guests participating today. I'm going to ask Rob Krcmarov, our President and CEO, to provide us with a safety share.
Thank you Cassie. In our business, the most important measure of performance is whether people go home safe and healthy at the end of every shift. Over the years, one thing I've come to appreciate is that safety is not separate from operational excellence. It's usually a reflection of it. Operations with strong safety cultures, they tend to have better planning, stronger communication, a more disciplined execution, and better leadership overall. Safety is also deeply personal. In this industry, many of us have experienced, either directly or indirectly, serious incidents or some potentially really serious near misses that remind us just how quickly a routine task can really become life-changing, particularly when conditions, communication, or attention break down. Those moments, they really stay with you. They reinforce that safety can never become background noise or simply a process to manage.
Our responsibility as leaders is to build a culture where people feel empowered to speak up, to ask questions, to intervene, or to stop potentially unsafe work. Production targets and schedules, they matter, but they can never outweigh the obligation to do work properly and to do work safely. That expectation extends across our entire workforce, employees, contractors, and partners alike. Ultimately, a strong safety culture and strong safety performance is more than just compliance. It reflects the quality of leadership and the culture of accountability and care that we're building across our organization, and in my experience, companies that do well tend to perform better in every respect over the long term. Thanks.
Thank you Rob. We are holding this meeting virtually to make attendance more convenient. Please observe the agenda and the rules of conduct posted on the virtual meeting screen. Shareholders may submit questions at any time via the field on the screen. I'd also like to welcome today the other members of our board of directors who are attending, Charles Stanley, Alice Wong, Mark Board, Jill Satre, and Dean Gehring. Also attending this meeting virtually are Bethany Paschal and Julian Carmona of BDO USA, P.C., our independent auditors. Notice of this meeting was given to all shareholders entitled to vote in accordance with Section 222 of the Delaware General Corporation Law and the company's by laws. The board set March 25th, 2026, as the record date.
Hecla's Chief Executive Officer has appointed Broadridge Financial Solutions, Tammy Whitman, our Assistant Secretary, Cheryl Turner, our Corporate Communications Coordinator, as inspectors of this election. Each inspector has taken the oath required by Section 231 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. The Inspectors of Election have certified that a quorum is present. We therefore may proceed with the business of the meeting and the polls for voting are open. Based on the inspector's report, I find that proper notice has been given and a quorum is present. This meeting has been properly convened under Delaware General Corporation Law and the company's bylaws. There are four proposals to be voted on today. Proposal number one, the election of two directors, Rob Krcmarov and Dean Gehring. Proposal number two, ratification of BDO USA, P.C. as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2026.
Proposal three, advisory vote on named executive officer compensation, and proposal four, amendment to the amended and restated Hecla Mining Company Stock Plan for Nonemployee Directors. Shareholders are entitled to vote and may do so online via the virtual meeting portal. If you've already voted by proxy, it is not necessary to vote again. The first item of business is Proposal one, the election of two Class one directors. The nominees are Rob Krcmarov and Dean Gehring, each for a 3-year term expiring in 2029. The board recommends a vote for each of these nominees. Full information regarding each nominee is set forth in the proxy statement, but I'm now going to introduce them and I'll ask each director nominee to stand. Rob Krcmarov is our President and CEO, and Director, and has been since November 2024. Rob is a geologist with over 35 years of experience.
He's the former EVP of Exploration and Growth at Barrick Mining and has international experience across more than 20 countries on five continents. Our second director nominee is Dean Gehring. A director since May 2025, Dean is a professional mining engineer and project management professional with over 30 years of experience. He's former EVP and Chief Integration Officer at Newmont Corporation, also former President and CEO at Rio Tinto, and he currently serves as a board advisor for Allonnia. No other nominations were received prior to the bylaw deadline. The polls are now closed for proposal one. The next item of business is proposal number two, the ratification and appointment of BDO USA, P.C. as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2026. The board recommends a vote for this proposal, and full information is set out in the proxy statement. The polls are now closed for proposal two.
The next item of business is proposal three, the advisory non-binding vote to approve named executive officer compensation for 2025 as described in the proxy statement. The board recommends a vote for this proposal. The polls are now closed for proposal three. The last item of business is proposal four, the approval of an amendment to the amended and restated Hecla Mining Company Stock Plan for Nonemployee Directors to extend the plan's termination date from May 15th, 2027 to May 15th, 2036. The board recommends a vote for this proposal. Full information is set forth in the proxy statement. The polls are now closed for proposal 4. Each nominee for director has received a majority of votes cast and has been duly elected. Each other proposal has received the affirmative vote required for approval.
The final report of the inspectors will be filed with the records for this meeting, and final vote tallies will be presented in Form 8-K, expected to be filed with the SEC tomorrow morning. I would just ask Mike Parkin, our VP of Investor Relations, if there are any questions regarding the company's business, including those submitted prior to the meeting.
Madam Chair, there is one. The question is, now that Hecla has achieved a zero long-term debt balance sheet, how is management viewing our forward hedging strategy and revenue predictability? Should shareholders expect Hecla to begin seeking long-term fixed-price offtake agreements to lock in baseline cash flows rather than remaining entirely exposed to cyclical spot market volatility?
I'll ask Mr. Krcmarov to respond.
The short answer is yes.
Thanks Mike. Any others?
That's it.
Okay. There being no further business, the 2026 annual meeting of shareholders of Hecla Mining Company has concluded. Thank you all for attending and for your continued support of Hecla.