Note 6 - Business Segments

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

Notes to Financial Statements

Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]

Note

6.

    Business Segments

We are currently organized and managed in

four

segments, which represent our operating units: the Greens Creek unit, the Lucky Friday unit, the Casa Berardi unit, and the San Sebastian unit.

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

months ended

March

 

31,

2017

and

2016

(in thousands):

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2017			2016
Net sales to unaffiliated customers:
Greens Creek	$	58,850		$	53,882
Lucky Friday		20,010			21,252
Casa Berardi		41,712			32,198
San Sebastian		21,972			23,685
	$	142,544		$	131,017
Income (loss) from operations:
Greens Creek	$	14,114		$	8,078
Lucky Friday		3,880			2,743
Casa Berardi		(2,245	)		1,934
San Sebastian		13,454			14,912
Other		(13,332	)		(12,094	)
	$	15,871		$	15,573

The following table presents identifiable assets by reportable segment as of

March

 

31,

2017

and

December

 

31,

2016

(in thousands):

	March 31, 2017		December 31, 2016
Identifiable assets:
Greens Creek	$	681,266	$	681,303
Lucky Friday		439,991		442,829
Casa Berardi		804,886		806,044
San Sebastian		47,561		33,608
Other		432,757		407,893
	$	2,406,461	$	2,371,677

The sales and income (loss) from operations amounts reported above include results from our Lucky Friday segment. The Lucky Friday mine is our only operation where some of our employees are subject to a collective bargaining agreement, and the most recent agreement expired on

April

30,

2016.

On

February

19,

2017,

the unionized employees voted against our contract offer and on

March

13,

2017

went on strike and have been on strike since that time. Production at the Lucky Friday has been suspended since the start of the strike. Costs related to care-and-maintenance of the mine during the strike period are reported in a separate line item on our condensed consolidated statement of operations and totaled

$1.6

million in the

first

quarter of

2017.

We cannot predict how long the strike will last or whether an agreement will be reached. As a result of the strike or other events related to labor at the Lucky Friday, operations at Lucky Friday could continue to be disrupted, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.