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Spokane Valley-based Revett Minerals Inc. has reported a third-quarter net loss of $600,000, or 2 cents per share, compared with net income of $4.4 million a year ago.
The loss follows 10 months of halted operations at the company's Troy Mine in Montana after a rockfall along a main hauling route.
Meanwhile, the company also says it plans to change its name from Revett Minerals Inc. to Revett Mining Company Inc. as part of a reorganization to change its incorporation jurisdiction from Canada to Delaware, in the United States. The name change is pending shareholder approval, which the company will seek in a December proxy vote.
Revett recently filed a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission registration document to change jurisdiction, as well as proxy information about the name change and other details of a process called domestication. Revett's corporate offices are at 11115 E. Montgomery, in Spokane Valley, and are expected to remain there.
For the third-quarter earnings, the company says that its cash and short-term investments as of Sept. 30 were at $12 million, down sharply from $28 million on Dec. 31. Revett reported that its working capital as of Sept. 30 was at $13.5 million, compared with $28.5 million at the end of last year.
The company says it is conserving its cash reserves, and it reduced its expenses significantly during the third quarter. Rehabilitation and development costs at the Troy Mine reached about $2 million in the recent period. Revett currently employs about 65 people at the mine, down from 200 workers when Troy was in full production before the shutdown.
Revett common shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol RVM, which will remain the same after it has completed its name and incorporation jurisdiction changes, the company says.
"We are pursuing the domestication for a number of reasons, the foremost being that we have no significant presence in Canada," says John Shanahan, president and CEO of Revett Minerals, in a letter to shareholders included in the SEC filing.
Shanahan says, "Our corporate offices and operations are located in the United States, and most of our shareholders reside there. The principal market for our common shares, the New York Stock Exchange Market Division, is also in the United States."
The process to become a U.S. corporation, which is expected to become effective Dec. 31 or soon after, would eliminate one level of holding company ownership and streamline corporate structure, he says. The move would reduce overall professional fees, and "could lead to better acceptance in the capital market and greater shareholder value," he adds.
Revett Minerals was incorporated in August 2004 under the Canada Business Corporations Act to acquire Revett Silver Co., a Montana corporation. That Montana company had organized in 1999 to acquire the Troy Mine and the Rock Creek Project, also in Montana, from Asarco Inc. and Kennecott Delaware Co.
Revett Minerals started copper and silver mining operations at the Troy Mine in January 2005 and produced ore until December 2012, when it suspended operations due to the unstable conditions in portions of the mine. It recently started developing a new underground decline, which is expected to cost about $12 million and require 12 months of construction before providing new access.
The company also is continuing its process to gain state and federal permits to develop the Rock Creek Project, a proposed underground copper and silver mine that would tunnel beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area near Noxon, Mont.