Mine closure planned unless prices rebound
The Troy Mine in northwestern Montana will close in 60 days if metals prices don’t improve, officials said Friday.
About 180 people work at the underground copper-silver mine, which is south of Troy. The mine is owned by Revett Silver Co., of Spokane Valley.
“The company is extremely disappointed in having to take such action given that the mine is currently operating at the best production levels it has experienced since commercial operations resumed in 2005,” said John Shanahan, interim president and CEO. “However, the prices for copper and silver continue to deteriorate, making production in this environment uneconomic.”
Copper prices tumbled Friday, after the U.S. Senate rejected a $14 billion bailout of the U.S. automobile industry. Carmarkers are large consumers of copper and other metals.
Shanahan said Revett plans to operate the Troy mine through early February.
SPOKANE
Ex-CEO Coffey to serve law firm as adviser
Spokane patent law firm Lee & Hayes has hired former Red Lion Hotels CEO Arthur Coffey as its new strategic adviser.
Coffey will strategic consulting for Lee & Hayes. The law firm has dozens of clients who hire it to manage patent applications and other tech-related services. The work Lee & Hayes does is called IP law, for intellectual property.
“Art is one of the most highly respected business leaders in the Spokane region. It’s a real pleasure to have the chance to work with him,” Lee & Hayes CEO Shaun Cross said in a press release.
Coffey retired as the president and CEO of Red Lion Hotels in February.
He began working with Spokane-based Goodale & Barbieri, the predecessor to Red Lion Hotels, in 1981. When Coffey retired this year, the publicly traded hotel chain had 52 hotels in eight states and one Canadian province.
Grant to aid services to rural health clinics
A $366,884 grant awarded to Inland Northwest Health Services will beef up technology efforts to deliver more information to regional rural clinics and hospitals.
The USDA Rural Development agency gave the money to INHS, the nonprofit service group jointly owned by Spokane’s two main hospitals.
Northwest TeleHealth, a service of INHS that provides health and education services to many rural areas of Idaho and Washington, will use the money to expand the range of technology choices the rural facilities can use, said INHS Chief Operating Officer Nancy Vorhees.
The grant will upgrade or establish services in 13 Washington counties – Adams, Chelan, Columbia, Douglas, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, Klickitat, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, Stevens and Whitman.
Among the added features enabled by the grant, remote “telehealth” users can watch sessions in streamed format if they are unable to take part in the live presentation. The grant will allow facilities to have multiple telehealth connections at desktops, instead of one common conference room inside a building.
From staff reports