Investment in Marketable Securities

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Investment in Marketable Securities [Abstract]

INVESTMENTS

INVESTMENTS

The Company classifies the marketable securities in which it invests as available-for-sale securities. Such securities are measured at fair market value in the financial statements with unrealized gains or losses recorded in other comprehensive income (loss). Please see Note 4 - FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENT for additional information on fair value classification of marketable securities. At the time securities are sold or otherwise disposed of, gains or losses are included in net income. The equity securities reflected in the table below consist of equity securities of silver and gold exploration and development companies that the Company purchased. The following table summarizes the Company’s available-for-sale securities on hand as of September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011 (in thousands):

	Investments in marketable securities
	Cost		Gross Unrealized Losses			Gross Unrealized Gains		Estimated Fair Value
Marketable securities at September 30, 2012	$	34,839	$	(7,982	)	$	4,386	$	31,243
Marketable securities at December 31, 2011	$	24,819	$	(4,975	)	$	—	$	19,844

In the three months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, the Company recognized an unrealized gain of $6.0 million and an unrealized loss of $2.8 million, respectively, in other comprehensive income (loss). In the nine months endedSeptember 30, 2012, and 2011, the Company recognized an unrealized gain of $0.8 million and an unrealized loss of $4.2 million, respectively, in other comprehensive income (loss). The Company performs a quarterly assessment on each of its marketable securities with unrealized losses to determine if the security is other than temporarily impaired. The Company has the intent and ability to hold these investments until they recover or increase in value. The Company's management team uses industry knowledge and expertise and has determined that unrealized losses on seven of the eight investments it currently holds are not other than temporary based on a review of the potential for each company. The Company determined that one of its available-for-sale investments was other than temporarily impaired at September 30, 2012 and recorded an impairment loss of $0.6 million during the third quarter of 2012. There were no impairment losses recorded during the third quarter of 2011. Gross realized gains and losses are based on cost, net of discount or premium of investments sold.

In addition, the Company had $0.7 million and $20.3 million of short-term investments at September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively. These investments are primarily in certificates of deposit with various banks and all have maturity dates of less than one year.