Note 4 - Property and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE 4 – PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

The following is a summary of property, plant, and equipment – at cost, less accumulated depreciation:

	2014		2013
Land (a)	$	945,180	$	945,180
Land improvements		164,758		164,758
Buildings		3,308,465		631,299
Mining equipment		1,684,197		1,569,635
Milling equipment		2,620,300		333,594
Laboratory equipment		594,451		65,934
Office equipment		72,174		60,992
Vehicles		148,673		140,002
		9,538,198		3,911,394
Less: Accumulated depreciation		2,482,324		1,317,958
		7,055,874		2,593,436
Construction in progress (b)		-		3,438,113
Total	$	7,055,874	$	6,031,549

(a) Includes the Atlas Mine near Mullan, Idaho with a carrying value of $445,180 (Note 3), and the Dragon Mine with a carrying value of $500,000.

(b) Represents investments in a new plant facility and related equipment at the mine site, which were transferred to the respective accounts in 2014.

The Company is using a five-year depreciation schedule with respect to its new processing plant that was commissioned in 2014.  The five-year depreciation schedule is a change from the 40 years utilized for the building and 7 years utilized for the equipment relating to the new processing plant in the quarterly financial statements for the quarters ended March 31, June 30 and September 30, 2014.  This change in useful life resulted in $587,427 of additional depreciation expense, which was recorded during the fourth quarter of 2014.  The impact of the change in the depreciation schedule did not have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements for the three quarters previously reported on Form 10-Q.