Hecla reports first-quarter loss
Hecla Mining Co. reported a first-quarter loss of $3.4 million on Wednesday, compared with a loss of $5 million during the first quarter of 2004.
Phil Baker, Hecla’s chief executive officer, attributed the most recent quarterly loss to lower ore grades at the company’s gold operations, an ongoing strike at the San Sebastian mill in Mexico and higher capital expenditures.
The company will spend up to $70 million on capital construction and mineral exploration this year, including development of the Mina Isadora Mine in Venezuela, an expansion of the Lucky Friday Mine in Idaho, and an underground ramp at a Nevada exploration property. The company will also build a new shaft to reach deeper levels of the La Camorra mine, a gold mine in Venezuela.
In other news, union members, who are not Hecla employees, continue to block access to the San Sebastian silver mine, preventing miners from going to work. The Mexican state of Durango has filed criminal charges against several of the union members, according to the company. Miners at the San Sebastian are not unionized, but the mill workers are.
As a result of an ongoing strike at the mill, no ore was processed at San Sebastian during the first quarter of 2005. The ore is being stockpiled until the strike is resolved.
Gibby Media moving to Spokane Valley
Gibby Media Group, Inc., a longtime north Spokane company, will move to Spokane Valley in June.
The nine-person company produces videos in a variety of formats and developed what it calls “GibbyDisc” technology, which features multimedia content that plays on a Windows computer.
Gibby Media has bought a 9,000-square-foot building at 1213 S. Pines, and has sold its current building at E. 113 Magnesium Rd. to an investor, said company CEO and President Lon Gibby.
Gibby Media will use about 70 percent of the space in the new building and will lease the rest, Gibby said.
The company is leaving the North Side after 22 years because the new building is more accessible to the Interstate 90 corridor and has more parking and more space than Gibby Media’s current location, Gibby said.
Tim Chervenak to become ICM president
ICM Asset Management Inc. said former Piper Jaffray executive Tim Chervenak will become ICM’s president and chief operating officer on June 1.
On that date, Jim Simmons, founder and current president of the Spokane-based investment company, will take the title of chief executive officer, becoming ICM’s first CEO, said company spokeswoman Seraphima Steffy. Simmons will retain the title of chief investment officer, she said.
Chervenak most recently was West Coast regional director and Seattle branch manager for Piper Jaffray Cos., a Minneapolis-based securities firm. Prior to joining Piper Jaffray, he worked in Spokane as vice president and branch manager of Kidder, Peabody & Co.
ICM Asset Management, founded in 1981, had $2.1 billion in assets under management as of March 31. The company employs 60, Steffy said.
Agencies warn companies about poster sales
Two Washington state agencies warned businesses recently that a company is trying to sell workplace posters businesses can get for free from the state.
The Washington attorney general’s office and the state Department of Labor and Industries said businesses all over the state have received a direct-mail advertisement that threatens recipients with a $7,000 fine if they don’t buy the workplace and safety posters. The mailing comes in an envelope labeled “2nd Notice” and appears to come from a state agency.
The sender, the Washington Labor Law Poster Service, charges $60 for posters covering state and federal labor laws, which businesses are required to hang in their workplaces. Those posters are available free, however: any local L&I office has three posters required by that agency, while two other posters are available from a WorkSource Center. Posters also can be downloaded off the L&I Web site at www.lni.wa.gov/IPUB/ 101-054-000.asp.
Sterling seeks conversion to commercial bank
The board of Spokane-based Sterling Financial Corp. said it would ask the state this week to convert Sterling Savings Bank to a commercial bank from a savings and loan.
The change is a matter of converting Sterling’s state charter, the bank said in a press release. Regulatory approval is expected by early July.
Sterling wants to be a commercial bank because the company “believes that the investment community tends to assign a higher market premium to commercial banks, which may benefit Sterling’s shareholders over the long run,” the bank said in a press release.
Bank customers shouldn’t notice any change from the conversion because “Sterling has already been operating like a commercial bank for the past several years,” the press release said.
Sterling Savings was founded in 1983.
EWU tabs Thompson Entrepreneur of the Year
Eastern Washington University graduate Tom Thompson was named the school’s 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year in a ceremony Wednesday.
Thompson started his career running a Jack in the Box franchise in California and later rose to the position of chief operating officer for Carl’s Jr., a nationwide fast-food restaurant company.
While at EWU, Thompson played football and baseball. He graduated in 1972 with a degree in business.
The award is given each year by EWU’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.