Note 6 - Business Segments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 6.    Business Segments

We are currently organized and managed in three reporting segments: the Greens Creek unit, the Lucky Friday unit and the Casa Berardi unit. On June 1, 2013 we completed the acquisition of Aurizon, giving us 100% ownership of the Casa Berardi mine in Quebec, Canada. As a result, we added a new reporting segment for the Casa Berardi unit, and the information below reflects our ownership of the assets previously held by Aurizon as of the June 1, 2013 acquisition date.

General corporate activities not associated with operating units and their various exploration activities, as well as discontinued operations and idle properties, are presented as “other.”  Interest expense, interest income and income taxes are considered general corporate items, and are not allocated to our segments.

The following tables present information about reportable segments for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013 (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2014			2013			2014			2013
Net sales to unaffiliated customers:
Greens Creek	$	67,763		$	64,845		$	186,808		$	207,576
Lucky Friday		27,883			14,395			71,740			23,324
Casa Berardi	$	39,861		$	27,389		$	120,248		$	37,509
	$	135,507		$	106,629		$	378,796		$	268,409
Income (loss) from operations:
Greens Creek	$	8,874		$	15,310		$	28,724		$	51,164
Lucky Friday		9,007			402			20,105			(6,210	)
Casa Berardi		395			572			4,940			(12,784	)
Other		(12,005	)		(14,543	)		(34,554	)		(65,264	)
	$	6,271		$	1,741		$	19,215		$	(33,094	)

The following table presents identifiable assets by reportable segment as of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013 (in thousands):

	September 30, 2014		December 31, 2013
Identifiable assets:
Greens Creek	$	722,163	$	744,027
Lucky Friday		347,643		313,793
Casa Berardi		796,495		821,058
Other		386,152		353,241
	$	2,252,453	$	2,232,119