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Note 11 - Business Segments and Significant Customers | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2014
Segment Reporting [Abstract] |
Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block] | Note 11: Business Segments and Significant Customers We discover, acquire, develop, produce, and market concentrates and doré containing silver, gold, lead and zinc. Our products consist of both metal concentrates, which we sell to custom smelters and brokers, and unrefined bullion bars (doré), which may be sold as doré or further refined before sale to precious metals traders. We are currently organized and managed in three segments, which represent our operating units: the Greens Creek unit, the Lucky Friday unit and the Casa Berardi unit. As further discussed in Note 15, we completed the acquisition of Aurizon on June 1, 2013, giving us 100% ownership of the Casa Berardi mine in Quebec, Canada. As a result, we added a new reporting segment in 2013 for the Casa Berardi unit. General corporate activities not associated with operating units and their various exploration activities, as well as discontinued operations and idle properties, are presented as “other.” Interest expense, interest income and income taxes are considered general corporate items, and are not allocated to our segments. Sales of metal concentrates and metal products are made principally to custom smelters, brokers and metals traders. The percentage of sales contributed by each segment is reflected in the following table:
|  | Year Ended December 31, |
|  | 2014 |  |  | 2013 |  |  | 2012 |
Greens Creek |  |  | 49.0 | % |  |  | 68.8 | % |  |  | 100.0 | %
Lucky Friday |  |  | 17.9 | % |  |  | 11.6 | % |  |  | — | %
Casa Berardi |  |  | 33.1 | % |  |  | 19.6 | % |  |  | — | %
|  |  | 100 | % |  |  | 100 | % |  |  | 100 | %
The tables below present information about reportable segments as of and for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012 (in thousands).
|  | 2014 |  |  | 2013 |  |  | 2012 |
Net sales to unaffiliated customers: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Greens Creek |  | $ | 245,175 |  |  | $ | 263,263 |  |  | $ | 320,895 |
Lucky Friday |  |  | 89,757 |  |  |  | 44,204 |  |  |  | 248 |
Casa Berardi |  |  | 165,849 |  |  |  | 75,122 |  |  |  | — |
|  | $ | 500,781 |  |  | $ | 382,589 |  |  | $ | 321,143 |
Income (loss) from operations: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Greens Creek |  | $ | 39,758 |  |  | $ | 62,178 |  |  | $ | 138,245 |
Lucky Friday |  |  | 21,502 |  |  |  | (3,563 | ) |  |  | (25,179 | )
Casa Berardi |  |  | 11,828 |  |  |  | (15,708 | ) |  |  | — |
Other |  |  | (51,460 | ) |  |  | (75,301 | ) |  |  | (75,200 | )
|  | $ | 21,628 |  |  | $ | (32,394 | ) |  | $ | 37,866 |
Capital additions (including non-cash additions): |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Greens Creek |  | $ | 31,476 |  |  | $ | 57,119 |  |  | $ | 62,184 |
Lucky Friday |  |  | 52,193 |  |  |  | 55,902 |  |  |  | 55,998 |
Casa Berardi |  |  | 48,615 |  |  |  | 41,425 |  |  |  | — |
Other |  |  | 18,801 |  |  |  | 8,162 |  |  |  | 11,760 |
|  | $ | 151,085 |  |  | $ | 162,608 |  |  | $ | 129,942 |
Depreciation, depletion and amortization: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Greens Creek |  | $ | 63,505 |  |  | $ | 55,265 |  |  | $ | 43,522 |
Lucky Friday |  |  | 9,431 |  |  |  | 7,833 |  |  |  | — |
Casa Berardi |  |  | 38,198 |  |  |  | 18,030 |  |  |  | — |
|  | $ | 111,134 |  |  | $ | 81,128 |  |  | $ | 43,522 |
Other significant non-cash items: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Greens Creek |  | $ | 2,807 |  |  | $ | 1,961 |  |  | $ | 4,037 |
Lucky Friday |  |  | 72 |  |  |  | 96 |  |  |  | 92 |
Casa Berardi |  |  | 847 |  |  |  | 474 |  |  |  | — |
Other |  |  | 506 |  |  |  | 1,512 |  |  |  | 33,922 |
|  | $ | 4,232 |  |  | $ | 4,043 |  |  | $ | 38,051 |
Identifiable assets: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Greens Creek |  | $ | 704,121 |  |  | $ | 744,027 |  |  | $ | 741,666 |
Lucky Friday |  |  | 356,482 |  |  |  | 313,793 |  |  |  | 226,196 |
Casa Berardi |  |  | 800,961 |  |  |  | 821,058 |  |  |  | — |
Other |  |  | 400,500 |  |  |  | 353,241 |  |  |  | 410,428 |
|  | $ | 2,262,064 |  |  | $ | 2,232,119 |  |  | $ | 1,378,290 |
The Lucky Friday segment had nominal sales during 2012 due to the halt of production most of the year. At the end of 2011, MSHA began a special impact inspection at the Lucky Friday mine which resulted in an order to remove built-up cementitious material from the Silver Shaft. In response, we submitted a plan to MSHA and received approval to remove the material, and this work commenced in the first quarter of 2012. The Silver Shaft work was completed in early 2013, and limited production at the Lucky Friday began in February. We experienced a ramp-up in mine output during the year, as additional production areas of the mine came on line, until we reached full production levels in September 2013. The smelter contracts related to treatment of Lucky Friday concentrates were suspended during the care-and-maintenance period based on force majeure. Once the Silver Shaft work was completed down to the 4900 foot level, we commenced work on a haulage way bypassing an area at the 5900 level impacted by a rock burst in December 2011, and the bypass was completed in early 2013. The following is sales information by geographic area based on the location of smelters and brokers (for concentrate shipments) and the location of parent companies (for doré sales to metals traders) for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012 (in thousands):
|  | 2014 |  |  | 2013 |  |  | 2012 |
United States |  | $ | 22,200 |  |  | $ | 22,361 |  |  | $ | 25,438 |
Canada |  |  | 295,027 |  |  |  | 170,632 |  |  |  | 34,441 |
Japan |  |  | 58,466 |  |  |  | 50,039 |  |  |  | 70,371 |
Korea |  |  | 70,548 |  |  |  | 86,035 |  |  |  | 120,106 |
China |  |  | 53,067 |  |  |  | 50,479 |  |  |  | 72,133 |
Total, excluding gains/losses on forward contracts |  | $ | 499,308 |  |  | $ | 379,546 |  |  | $ | 322,489 |
Sales of products for 2014 also include a net gain of $1.5 million on financially-settled forward contracts for silver, gold, lead and zinc contained in our concentrate sales. 2013 sales included a net gain of $3.0 million and 2012 sales included a net loss of $1.3 million on the contracts for lead and zinc. See Note 10 for more information. The following are our long-lived assets by geographic area as of December 31, 2014 and 2013 (in thousands):
|  | 2014 |  |  | 2013 |
United States |  | $ | 1,081,699 |  |  | $ | 1,053,374 |
Canada |  |  | 749,810 |  |  |  | 738,172 |
Mexico |  |  | 55 |  |  |  | 55 |
|  | $ | 1,831,564 |  |  | $ | 1,791,601 |
Sales from continuing operations to significant metals customers as a percentage of total sales were as follows for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012:
|  | Year Ended December 31, |
|  | 2014 |  |  | 2013 |  |  | 2012 |
Teck Metals Ltd. |  |  | 25.8 | % |  |  | 25.0 | % |  |  | 10.7 | %
Korea Zinc |  |  | 14.1 | % |  |  | 22.5 | % |  |  | 37.2 | %
Trafigura AG |  |  | 7.0 | % |  |  | 8.8 | % |  |  | 22.4 | %
MS Zinc |  |  | 5.9 | % |  |  | 7.5 | % |  |  | 12.3 | %
CIBC |  |  | 17.0 | % |  |  | 10.9 | % |  |  | — | %
Mitsui |  |  | 15.8 | % |  |  | 8.4 | % |  |  | — | %

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- Definition The entire disclosure for reporting segments including data and tables. Reportable segments include those that meet any of the following quantitative thresholds a) it's reported revenue, including sales to external customers and intersegment sales or transfers is 10 percent or more of the combined revenue, internal and external, of all operating segments b) the absolute amount of its reported profit or loss is 10 percent or more of the greater, in absolute amount of 1) the combined reported profit of all operating segments that did not report a loss or 2) the combined reported loss of all operating segments that did report a loss c) its assets are 10 percent or more of the combined assets of all operating segments. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 29 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8864-108599 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 32 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8933-108599 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 26 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8844-108599 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 10 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8538-108599 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8380-108599 Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 34 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8981-108599 Reference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 35 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8984-108599 Reference 8: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 41 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e9038-108599 Reference 9: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 30 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8906-108599 Reference 10: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 42 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e9054-108599 Reference 11: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 31 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8924-108599 Reference 12: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 40 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e9031-108599 Reference 13: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 33 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8971-108599 Reference 14: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 12 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6534315&loc=d3e8595-108599 + Details
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