Dennis Wheeler, chairman, president, and CEO of Coeur dAlene Mines Corp., exudes the calm confidence of a business executive who has been tested by fire and has learned how to dodge the flames.


In an industry where low metals prices have spurred extensive restructuring and consolidation, Wheeler displays little doubt that the Coeur dAlene-based mining concern, which claims to be North Americas leading primary silver producer and also is a significant producer of gold, will ride out the sluggish market.


He says he expects the companys strong cash position, substantial ore reserves, and an intensified pursuit of operating efficiencies will keep it healthy through the current short-term malaise in commodities, which he attributes to Asian economic woes and says has affected precious-metals prices. He says he also is encouraged by industry projections for a modest, but steady increase in the worldwide demand for precious metals over the next five years.


I have every expectation, and our goal is, to significantly expand our production base and increase cash flow from operations. We are going to continue to strengthen the companys balance sheet going forward, Wheeler insists.


Coeurs latest financial results appear to lend credence to his optimism. The company reported a slight net loss of $21,000 for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, much improved over the $6.3 million loss in the year-earlier perioddespite a 23 percent decline in the average market price of gold. After dividends to preferred shareholders, the net loss attributable to common shareholders was $2.7 million for the third quarter of 1998, compared with $8.9 million in the year-earlier period.


Wheeler says Coeur reduced its annual interest payments by nearly $2 million in the latest quarter through the early retirement of about $26 million worth of debt, while maintaining more than $154 million in cash and short-term investments. That strong cash position gives the company the ability to boost its production levels, he says. Bolstering that financial strength are the companys total proven and probable reserves of about 3.4 million troy ounces of gold and 100 million ounces of silver.


Coeur produced nearly 291,000 ounces of gold and 11 million ounces of silver last year, both of which were company records. It expects its gold production to fall back to about 200,000 ounces this year, but says its silver production will be near last years level.


Coeur received an average price of $5.18 an ounce for silver in the latest quarter, up from $4.57 an ounce during the same period last year, but only $300.87 an ounce for gold, which was down from $333.41 in the year-earlier period. Wheeler says he foresees a possible price upswing next year of as much as $1 an ounce for silver and $25 for gold.


From roots in North Idahos Silver Valley, the 60-year-old companys operations now extend to three continents and five operating gold and silver mines. Earlier this decade, the company pursued an aggressive development program through which it established or invested in operating properties in Chile, New Zealand, and Australia, while continuing to develop its operations in Nevada and Idaho. It also has been developing the promising Kensington gold-mining property north of Juneau, Alaska, which it hasnt yet put into commercial production.


Over the next year, though, the company will be limiting its exploration efforts mostly to areas in and around its current mines, Wheeler says.


We have interesting exploration potential in all of the districts where we operate, and will be looking for a repeat of the geologic fingerprint, if you will, thats present in the com-panys established mines, he says.


Heres a quick update on whats happening at the companys mines:


Coeurs flagship Rochester surface mine in northwestern Nevada is on track to meet its planned 1998 production of 6.7 million ounces of silver and 77,000 ounces of gold, despite record precipitation there this year.


The company also is conducting deep drilling and metallurgical tests designed to add to reserves and extend Rochesters present eight-year life.


In North Idahos Silver Valley, where Coeur has a 50 percent ownership in Silver Valley Resources Corp., which operates the Coeur and Galena underground mines, Weve had some very good results in terms of developing core reserves, Wheeler says. Additional reserves have extended the projected life of the mining properties there to 12 years from the previous five years, he says.


During the last quarter, Silver Valley Resources completed a transition of operations from the Coeur mine to the Galena mine. However, the company is continuing exploration work at the Coeur mine and at several adjacent properties it has leased.


In what Wheeler describes as another bit of positive news, Coeur has reversed its previously planned closure of its El Bronce underground gold and silver mine in central Chile based on operating improvements and the discovery of additional reserves there. Those developments should keep the mine operating through the end of next year and possibly longer, he says.


Coeurs Fachinal open pit and underground gold and silver mine in southern Chile has been the companys toughest challenge, Wheeler says. To trim unacceptably high operating costs, the company has slashed its work force there by about half, eliminating 100 jobs, and has revised the original mine plan for the property, he says. Were starting to see some definite improvements in our results there, and we need to keep in that direction, he adds.


The western Australian Yilgarn Star gold mine, in which Coeur has partial ownership, has been producing gold recently at a favorable cash cost of just $232 an ounce, he says. Coeur expects its share of gold production there for this year to be about 37,800 ounces. Wheeler says additional exploration efforts under way at Yilgarn Star have a goal of achieving at least a 15-year mine life there.


Coeur received some uplifting news from a recently completed 18-month optimization study and development program at the previously mentioned Kensington gold-mining property in Alaska. The program, done by independent consultants, reduced the projects estimated operating cash cost to less than $195 an ounce, well below an earlier estimate, and its expected capital costs at $192 million, which is $5 million lower than previous estimates, Wheeler says. Through the studies, the company also has been able to add about 400,000 ounces to the propertys estimated 3 million ounces of reserves and resources, he says.


Coeur still needs to complete some additional permitting on a revised mine plan for Kensington, and its unclear how long that might take. However, Gordon Bigler, the companys investor relations director, says, We are looking forward to making a positive production decision (once that is completed).


Such a decision would kick off an 18- to 24-month construction period, after which the mine could begin operating. Bigler declines to speculate on how soon the mine could begin production.


Coeur is scheduled to go to trial next October on a lawsuit it filed two years ago against Cyprus Amax Minerals, of Denver, for allegedly failing to disclose geologic-instability problems at the Golden Cross Mine in New Zealand.


Coeur bought an 80 percent interest in that gold and silver mine from Cyprus in 1993, and received about a third, or $33 million, of its overall revenue from the productive mine in 1995. However, Coeur claims it later was forced to launch a multimillion-dollar remediation project there to prevent a potentially catastrophic failure of a tailings-pond dam. The company took a $53 million write-down in July 1996, which it attributed to the Golden Cross environmental problems, and ceased all mining operations there earlier this year.