Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp., of Coeur d'Alene, announced this morning fourth-quarter 2012 net income of $37.6 million, or 42 cents a diluted share, up from $11.4 million, or 13 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.
For all of 2012, however, the company reported net income of $48.7 million, or 54 cents a share, down from $93.5 million, or $1.05 a share, in 2011.
Coeur's net metal sales for 2012 totaled $895.5 million, down 12 percent from 2011. The company produced 18 million ounces of silver last year, a 6 percent decrease from 2011. Gold production, however, increased 3 percent, to about 226,500 ounces.
Mitchell J. Krebs, Coeur's president and CEO, said in a press release the company expects to increase production this year.
"We worked through operational challenges at Palmarejo and San Bartolome (mines) in the fourth quarter and expect these operations to achieve sustainable production rates in 2013 and beyond," Krebs said.
Coeur currently operates the Palmarejo silver-gold mine in Mexico, the San Bartolome silver mine in Bolivia, the Rochester silver-gold mine in Nevada, and the Kensington gold mine in Alaska. The company also owns nonoperating interest in an Australian mine and conducts ongoing exploration in Nevada, Alaska, Mexico, Bolivia, and Argentina.