Spokane Valley-based mining company Revett Minerals Inc. has reported net income of $3.7 million, or 10 cents a diluted share, for the first quarter, up sharply from a net loss of $2.8 million, or 12 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

The company says its total revenue for the quarter increased by nearly 50 percent to $19.2 million, compared with $12.8 million in the 2011 first quarter. It attributes the increases mostly to higher metal production at its Troy Mine, near Troy, Mont.

Revett says it produced 324,000 ounces of silver and 2.2 million pounds of copper during the quarter, up from 245,000 ounces of silver and 1.9 million pounds of copper during the same period a year ago.

"Our operations team at the Troy Mine continues to provide consistent results and remain focused on meeting our production guidelines of 1.4 million ounces of silver and 11.5 million pounds of copper in 2012," says John Shanahan, president and CEO.

The company also has a long-range plan to develop a secondary mining operation, its Rock Creek project, located near Noxon, Mont., about 50 miles southeast of Sandpoint. It's continuing to work with the U.S. Forest Service to complete a supplemental environmental impact statement on the project to meet administrative and National Environmental Policy Act-related issues.

Since late 2004, Revett has planned to develop Rock Creek as an underground copper and silver mine that would tunnel beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area.

The Rock Creek deposit is within U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service-administered Kootenai National Forest land, and requires federal and state approvals to develop. In mitigating impact, Revett agreed to spend about $30 million to improve and set aside grizzly bear habitat.

The company received an affirmative decision last year from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals regarding its Rock Creek project, which has been challenged by environmental groups. The court affirmed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's determination that the mine wouldn't harm bull trout and grizzly bear critical habitat and didn't violate the Endangered Species Act.