Note 6 - Business Segments

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2017

Notes to Financial Statements

Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 6. Business Segments

We are currently organized and managed in

four

segments: 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

and

six

months ended

June 

30,

2017

and

2016

(in thousands):

	Three Months Ended June 30,						Six Months Ended June 30,
	2017			2016			2017			2016
Net sales to unaffiliated customers:
Greens Creek	$	71,339		$	59,574		$	130,189		$	113,456
Lucky Friday		(187	)		22,760			19,823			44,012
Casa Berardi		43,822			53,285			85,534			85,483
San Sebastian		19,305			35,683			41,277			59,368
	$	134,279		$	171,302		$	276,823		$	302,319
Income (loss) from operations:
Greens Creek	$	15,418		$	14,831		$	29,532		$	22,909
Lucky Friday		(8,212	)		4,047			(4,332	)		6,790
Casa Berardi		(1,708	)		10,622			(3,953	)		12,556
San Sebastian		11,892			25,583			25,346			40,495
Other		(13,415	)		(13,473	)		(26,747	)		(25,567	)
	$	3,975		$	41,610		$	19,846		$	57,183

The following table presents identifiable assets by reportable segment as of

June 

30,

2017

and

December 

31,

2016

(in thousands):

	June 30, 2017		December 31, 2016
Identifiable assets:
Greens Creek	$	674,210	$	681,303
Lucky Friday		431,331		442,829
Casa Berardi		807,180		806,044
San Sebastian		43,268		33,608
Other		423,167		407,893
	$	2,379,156	$	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 Lucky Friday has been suspended since the start of the strike. For the

first

six

months of

2017,

suspension costs during the strike period of

$7.6

million, along with

$2.0

million in non-cash depreciation expense, are reported in a separate line item on our unaudited condensed consolidated statement of operations. 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 Lucky Friday, operations at Lucky Friday could continue to be disrupted, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.