CdA Mines loses $18.1 million in third quarter

Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. spent $14.9 million on its failed attempt to take over a Canadian mining company, contributing to a quarterly loss for the Coeur d’Alene firm.

Coeur lost $18.1 million, or 8 cents a share, in the period ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $17.6 million, or 10 cents a share, a year ago. The company’s per-share loss improved compared with a year ago because Coeur has more shares outstanding than it had in the third quarter of 2003.

Higher prices for gold and silver drove the company’s revenues to $31.3 million in the most-recent quarter, up 30 percent from revenues of $24 million a year ago.

But the merger expense, combined with higher exploration and pre-development costs and a shipping delay that pushed some sales and profit into the fourth quarter, resulted in a quarterly loss, the company said in its earnings release. Without those expenses, Coeur would have lost about $100,000 in the quarter, a significant improvement from what would have been a loss of $11.4 million a year ago, minus nonrecurring items and pre-development expenses for that quarter.

Coeur let its $2 billion bid to acquire Vancouver, B.C.-based Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. expire on Sept. 30 after it appeared the offer wouldn’t interest enough Wheaton shareholders and Coeur wasn’t willing to increase its price. The company spent five months courting those shareholders but its hostile takeover bid met with vigorous resistance from Wheaton officials.