CdA Mines reports record-high revenues

Higher silver and gold prices helped boost Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp.’s fourth-quarter revenues to a record high of nearly $55 million, company officials reported Tuesday.

The company earned $9.9 million, or 4 cents per share, during the fourth quarter, compared with 2004 fourth-quarter earnings of $8.3 million, or 3 cents per share. For the entire year, Coeur d’Alene Mines reported earnings of $10.6 million, compared with a $16.9 million loss in 2004.

Meanwhile, company officials continue to mull the fate of the Galena Mine, including a possible sale. The cost of extracting an ounce of silver from the mine near Silverton, Idaho, rose to $12.40 during the fourth quarter – a money loser even at silver prices topping $9 per ounce. The Galena’s production dropped by 40 percent last year.

Both costs and production have since improved, according to company officials. Olympia

January jobless rate up slightly in Spokane County

Spokane County’s unemployment rate rose slightly in January to 5.6 percent, compared with 5.3 percent in December, state labor economists reported Tuesday.

In January 2005 the jobless rate in Spokane County was 7.1 percent, said Jeff Zahir, regional labor economist for the Washington Employment Security Department.

Washington state’s jobless rate in January was 5.3 percent.

Because of seasonal fluctuation, several industry sectors showed large declines in total employment in January. Those included retail trade, which declined by 1,600 jobs in Spokane from December, Zahir reported.

Construction also fell by about 1,100 jobs.

Spokane

Douglas appointed GamerZunion president

Mead-based GamerZunion has appointed Don Douglas as president. Douglas has worked with a number of area technology companies, including World Wide Packets.

He will oversee fundraising and day-to-day operations, said Nate Brantingham, one of the company’s founders.

GamerZunion, formed in 2004, is launching a portal Web site that, for a fee, will give subscribers access to dozens of “massively multiplayer online games.” The company hopes to launch the portal later this year, said Brantingham.

New York

Penguin Press wins Greenspan memoir rights

The memoirs of Alan Greenspan, one of the hottest properties in publishing, have been acquired by The Penguin Press, which has set a 2007 release date for the book by the former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Financial terms were not disclosed by Penguin. A dozen publishers were interested in the book, and a high-ranking official with a publisher that competed in the auction said bidding reached at least $7 million.

Greenspan’s deal ranks with some of the most lucrative contracts for business books, including former General Electric Co. CEO Jack Welch’s “Jack: Straight From the Gut,” and an upcoming authorized biography of billionaire Warren Buffett, both reportedly worth at least $7 million.