http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/ ... um=twitterCiter:
UPDATE 1-Coeur and Hecla post losses, slash budgets as metal prices drop
Thu Aug 8, 2013 9:29am EDT
* Top U.S. silver miners cut capex for 2013
* Coeur sees 2014 capex less than $80 mln
* Cash costs soar
* Shares down 1 pct
Aug 8 (Reuters) - Coeur Mining Inc and Hecla Mining Co posted quarterly losses, hit by a drop in precious metal prices, and the top two U.S. silver miners reduced their expenditure targets for the year.
Silver miners are under intense pressure to reduce capital and operating costs as prices for the metal have fallen more than 30 percent so far this year.
Both Coeur and Hecla's realized prices broadly track the spot market price of the metal.
Their shares were down about 1 percent in trading before the bell on the New York Stock Exchange.
Realized silver prices of Coeur, the largest U.S. silver miner by output, fell about 23 percent to $22.86 per ounce for the quarter, while those for Hecla fell 40 percent to $16.27 per ounce in the quarter ended June.
Coeur said it was lowering its planned capital spending for 2013 by 18 percent to $100-$110 million and expects to spend less than $80 million next year.
Hecla cut its capital expenditure for the second time this year. The company's new spending target of $178 million includes budget for the newly-acquired Casa Berardi gold mine in Quebec.
The company reduced capital budget for its Greens Creek mine in Alaska and Lucky Friday mine in Idaho to $129 million from $145 million it had forecast in May.
Second-quarter costs at both companies soared.
Excluding one-time items, Hecla posted a loss of 3 cents per share, while analysts on average had expected earnings of 1 cent per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Rival Coeur also posted a surprise loss of 35 cents for the second quarter.