Note 4 - Properties, Plants, Equipment and Mineral Interests, and Lease Commitments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Notes to Financial Statements

Property, Plant and Equipment Disclosure [Text Block]

Note

4:

Properties, Plants, Equipment and Mineral Interests, and Lease Commitments

Properties, Plants, Equipment and Mineral Interests

Our major components of properties, plants, equipment, and mineral interests are (in thousands):

	December 31,
	2018		2017
			Revised
Mining properties, including asset retirement obligations	$	533,631	$	404,905
Development costs		444,229		390,094
Plants and equipment		988,285		847,462
Land		32,953		26,949
Mineral interests		1,269,956		957,359
Construction in progress		365,807		347,323
		3,634,861		2,974,092
Less accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization		1,114,857		974,781
Net carrying value	$	2,520,004	$	1,999,311

During

2018,

we incurred total capital expenditures of approximately

$136.9

million. This excludes non-cash items for equipment acquired under capital leases and adjustments for asset retirement obligations. The expenditures included

$14.2

million at the Lucky Friday unit,

$40.9

million at the Greens Creek unit,

$39.7

million at the Casa Berardi unit,

$6.2

million at the San Sebastian unit, and

$32.6

million at the Nevada Operations unit.

Mineral interests include amounts for value beyond proven and probable reserves ("VBPP") related to mines and exploration or pre-development interests acquired by us which are

not

depleted until the mineralized material they relate to is converted to proven and probable reserves. As of

December 

31,

2018,

mineral interests included VBPP assets of

$396.4

million,

$382.1

million and

$223.4

million, respectively, at our Casa Berardi, Nevada Operations and Greens Creek units, along with various other properties.

Properties, plants, equipment, and mineral interests includes the portion of interest costs incurred on our debt capitalized as a part of the cost of constructing certain qualifying assets. For the year ended

December 

31,

2017,

capitalized interest totaled

$0.9

million. The capitalized interest was primarily related to the

#4

Shaft project at Lucky Friday, which was completed in

January 2017.

Capital Leases

We periodically enter into lease agreements, primarily for equipment at our operating units, which we have determined to be capital leases.  As of

December 

31,

2018

and

2017,

we have recorded

$58.4

million and

$48.6

million, respectively, for the gross amount of assets acquired under the capital leases and

$38.4

million and

$33.1

million, respectively, in accumulated depreciation on those assets, classified as plants and equipment in

Properties, plants, equipment and mineral interests

.  See

Note

7

for information on future obligations related to our capital leases.

Operating Leases

We enter into operating leases during the normal course of business. During the years ended

December 

31,

2018,

2017

and

2016,

we incurred expenses of approximately

$7.8

million,

$4.8

million and

$4.8

million, respectively, for these leases. At

December 

31,

2018,

future obligations under our operating leases were as follows (in thousands):

Year ending December 31,
2019	$	7,919
2020		5,530
2021		3,578
2022		2,543
2023		2,182
Thereafter		1,397
Total	$	23,149