Coeur D'Alene Restarts Production At Mexican Mine

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) ⿿ Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. said Thursday that full production has resumed at one of its Mexican mines, after the workers who had been blocking access to it agreed to return to work.

The silver and gold miner, which is based in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, said Wednesday that workers began blocking access to the Palmarejo Mine in northern Mexico last weekend.

Coeur d'Alene spokeswoman Stefany Bales said the workers were blocking access because of pay concerns. The group's size ranged from between 10 and 80 workers over the course of several days, but it was unclear exactly how many of those people actually worked at the mine, she said.

Management temporarily shut down the mine, which employs about 900 people, in order to ensure safety and negotiate with the workers in question, the company said.

Coeur d'Alene said it does not expect the shutdown to have a significant effect on the mine's 2012 production. In 2011, the mine produced 9 million ounces of silver and 125,071 ounces of gold, representing about half of the company's revenue that year, according to Coeur d'Alene's annual report.

In late afternoon trading, Coeur d'Alene shares fell 42 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $16.89.

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