"....Tom Szabo, editor of SilverAxis.com, said the Palmarejo...

"....Tom Szabo, editor of SilverAxis.com, said the Palmarejo property is “pretty exciting” and obviously justifies a premium to account for exploration upside and expected low production costs.

“Is it too expensive? I suppose the market will determine that,” he said, adding that the deal does carry the risk of deflating value “given that CDE has just plumbed a new 52-week low.”

Szabo said he’s having a hard time understanding what Coeur d’Alene “is trying to accomplish,” after selling their Silver Valley, Idaho properties last year, including the producing Galena Mine, to U.S. Silver Corp. [TSX-V:USA] for $15 million.

He said Coeur needed to replace lost production from Galena (and Rochester as it nears the end of its mine life), “desperate to make something happen.”

Currently, the Galena mine is operating at approximately 500 tonnes per day of silver-copper ore, increasing to over 700 tonnes per day by mid year 2007, with hopes to ramp it up to 1,100 tonnes per day per capacity at the Galena mill.

According to Szabo, Coeur opted out of the investment due to higher costs and a dwindling resource base, but since then, additional exploration has increased reported resources to around 60 million ounces of silver equivalent...."

http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=31467