Coeur Plans To Expand Rochester Mine

CHICAGO, IL - "Our third quarter results provide further evidence that our strategic initiatives are dramatically reshaping the Company," said Mitchell J. Krebs, Coeur's President and Chief Executive Officer.

"Plans to further expand our Rochester mine in Nevada remain on-track and recent efforts to capture the efficiencies of larger scale mining are clearly paying off. Production levels this year are expected to be 15% - 30% higher than last year while unit costs are expected to be 10% -15% lower than 2014. We have now completed work to expand a crusher facility that is expected to allow us to sustain mining and crushing rates of over 16 million tons per year and capture additional volume-related efficiencies. Permitting efforts for the next leach pad remain on schedule. The public comment period concluded in early October and we will now complete the final EIS by year-end and expect to receive the Record of Decision during the first half of 2016. Construction of the next leach pad is scheduled for 2017.

"At Kensington in Alaska, the decline down to the high-grade Jualin deposit kicked off in early August and has now advanced approximately 700 feet. Currently, Jualin is estimated to contain approximately 289,000 tons of inferred resources with an average grade of 0.62 ounces per ton, which is over triple Kensington's average reserve grade. Once we gain better access from underground, we will begin to more efficiently drill Jualin to better define and hopefully expand this new high-grade discovery before mining begins in 2017.

"At Palmarejo, underground mining rates from the higher-grade Guadalupe deposit averaged over 1,700 tons per day during the third quarter and the next target is 2,000 tons per day by the end of the year. Efforts to develop the newly acquired Independencia underground deposit located approximately 800 meters from Guadalupe remain on-track to reach the ore body by the end of 2015. Mining from Independencia is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2016 and will become a second source of high-grade ore along with Guadalupe. As expected, we intersected high-grade mineralization while driving the tunnel from Guadalupe to Independencia, which has the potential to become a new source of high-grade ore.

"Along with several process-related improvements that have been implemented, the metallurgical characteristics of the ore from Guadalupe are resulting in significantly higher recovery rates for both silver and gold. We filed a new NI 43-101 technical report for Palmarejo today, which reflects the mine's ongoing transition to underground mining and incorporates Independencia for the first time since closing the acquisition of Paramount Gold and Silver Corp. in April. Also included in the technical report are updated reserves for Palmarejo based on new silver and gold price assumptions, which provides the basis for a robust mine plan for the next seven years. The significant amount of resources and the opportunity to add further reserves and resources through our ongoing drilling activities makes us optimistic about the potential to further extend and enhance Palmarejo's operating and financial profile.

"Since closing on the acquisition of the Wharf gold mine in South Dakota in February for $99.8 million, we announced a 39% increase in the total reserve and are now seeing production levels rise and costs drop significantly. During the third quarter, Wharf's costs per ounce dropped 26% compared to the second quarter to $716 per gold equivalent ounce1, leading to over $12 million of free cash flow from our newest operation.

"Since the end of the third quarter, we took advantage of an opportunity to eliminate 10% of total outstanding debt at a 24% discount to par value by agreeing to exchange an estimated 14.4 million shares of common stock for approximately $54 million of our 7.875% Notes due 2021. Adjusting for this lower level of debt, our net debt is expected to be $287 million and our net debt to LTM EBITDA ratio is expected to drop 16% to 3.2x. Cash at the end of the third quarter stood at $206 million, virtually unchanged from the end of the second quarter, despite significantly lower silver and gold prices. We believe that by meaningfully reducing debt and sustaining our liquidity levels in the face of lower prices, we are proactively addressing two areas of perceived risk facing the equity value of the Company."