Vancouver — The world’s largest primary silver producer,
The results include US$12.5 million for interest and one-time charges. Excluding the special items, the company incurred a loss of US$5.4 million (US3 a share).
Sales during the 3-month period amounted to US$23.4 million, down from US$24.4 million a year earlier. The decrease is attributed to a planned suspension of operations at its Silver Valley mine in Idaho.
However, as CEO Dennis Wheeler explains: “At Silver Valley, we have initiated the long-term expansion plan designed to increase reserves and production, and to lower operating costs. By 2006, we expect a record seven million ounces of silver production from Silver Valley, with average cash costs of below four dollars [U.S.] per ounce.”
The company produced 3.3 million oz. silver and 31,000 oz. gold during the quarter, compared with 3.8 million oz. silver and 34,000 oz. gold a year earlier. The average realized silver price increased to US$4.77 from US$4.65 per oz., whereas the gold price rose to US$353 from US$315 per oz.
Says Wheeler: “Our South American mines — the Cerro Bayo [in Chile] and Martha [in Argentina] — continued to contribute strong production and cash flow by increasing their silver-equivalent ounces over last year’s third quarter and first nine months, at an extremely low production cost. Because of our exploration success around these two new and highly prospective properties, we have increased our exploration budget in South America by thirty-five per cent for the remainder of this year.”
At Sept. 30, Coeur d’Alene had US$94.2 million in cash, reflecting a US$76-million share offering comprising 23.7 million shares.
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