Coeur goes to market for US$107 m

Idaho-based Coeur d’Alene Mines (CDE-N) has arranged to issue 25 million shares in a public offering to raise US$106.9 million.

CIBC World Markets and J.P. Morgan are the joint principals in the offering, which is priced at US$4.50 per share. The underwriters have a 30-day option to buy another 2.5 million shares at the same price.

Proceeds will be used for exploration and development at the Cerro Bayo mine in Chile and the Martha mine in Argentina, and for an expansion program at Coeur’s Silver Valley mine in Idaho. At the Kensington project in Alaska, Coeur will use some of the funds for definition drilling.

Coeur had US$218.3 million in cash and short-term instruments at the end of September, as well as short-term liabilities of US$431 million.

The company reported a loss of $17.7 million, including $14.9 million in merger expenses, for the quarter ended Sept. 30. Revenues in the same period were US$30.2 million. For the first nine months of 2004, Coeur shosed a loss of US$25.7 million (or US12 per share) on revenue of US$86.2 million.

In 2003, Coeur posted a third-quarter loss of US$17.5 million on US$23.6 million in revenue, and a nine-month loss of US$53.7 million on revenue of US$78.2 million. The 9-month loss included a US$34 million item for early retirement of debt.

The share issue would bring Coeur’s capitalization to 238 million shares, issued and outstanding.