Lucky Friday output up; Bunker Hill anticipates reopening long-idled mine The mining industry in the Inland Northwest and throughout the U.S. shares some guarded optimism looking forward to 2021 and the incoming presidential administration, says Mark Compton, executive director of the Spokane-based American Exploration & Mining Association. With the incoming Biden administration’s policies anticipated to focus on climate change, renewable energy, and electrification, domestic raw materials will be needed to make that happen, he asserts. “One of the results of the pandemic has been the growing recognition on both sides of the aisle of supply-chain issues and the need to have domestic resources for minerals,” Compton contends.