Lundin has been developing Fruta del Norte for over a year, following an agreement with Ecuador’s government allowing the miner to move ahead with the gold project, the country's biggest.
The state’s "bad actor" law has only been used once before, and Hecla’s president and chief executive officer, Phillips Baker is the first top executive at a large company to be scrutinized under it.
Results from 11 of the 12 drilling rigs at its 85%-owned Cascabel copper-gold project, suggest there is much more intense mineralization in the property than thought earlier, the company said.
The Nicaragua-focused miner has not generated any revenue in the past two years, but narrowed pre-tax loss to £3 million in 2017 from £7.7 million a year earlier.