Business in brief: CdA Mines posts $31.9 million loss

Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. reported a net loss of $31.9 million last year, compared to a 2008 net loss of $600,000.

An $82.7 million accounting charge related to royalty payments for gold production was counted against the company’s earnings, officials said.

Coeur d’Alene Mines produced a record 17.7 million ounces of silver last year and 72,112 ounces of gold.

The company opened the Palmarejo gold and silver mine in Mexico last year. The company’s Kensington Mine in Alaska is expected to open during the third quarter of this year.

Becky Kramer

Wal-Mart seeks emission decline

New York – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. wants its suppliers to reduce 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2015.

The world’s largest retailer’s push goes beyond its efforts to date to reduce its own emissions by designing more energy-efficient stores and pursuing alternative fuels for its fleet of trucks.

The goal is equivalent to taking 3.8 million cars off the road for a year, the company said.

Wal-Mart is collaborating with the Environmental Defense Fund and other environmental experts to measure reduction. It said it won’t force suppliers to make changes but will work with them on projects that will reduce both emissions and costs.

Associated Press

Mortgage rates top 5 percent

Washington – Rates for 30-year home loans rose above the 5 percent threshold for the first time in three weeks, but remained near historically low levels.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.05 percent this week, up from 4.93 percent a week earlier, mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said Thursday.

Rates had dropped to a record low of 4.71 percent in December.

This week, the average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 4.4 percent, up from 4.33 percent last week.

Associated Press

Airline buying Bombardier jets

Seattle – Republic Airways, which owns Midwest and Frontier regional airlines, said Thursday it has agreed to buy up to 40 new Bombardier CS300 jets, with options for an additional 40 aircraft.

The order is a big boost for the new Bombardier CSeries, which comes in two aircraft sizes – roughly 110 seats and 130 seats – and will compete directly with Boeing’s smaller 737s as well as Airbus’ A320 family of jets.

The first CSeries jet is set to enter service in 2013, a schedule that threatens to take market share from Boeing and Airbus, who will probably not replace their single-aisle jets until years later.

Seattle Times