Sunshine Minting has eye on Nevada

COEUR d’ALENE — Sunshine Minting, which employs about 300 at its manufacturing center and corporate offices in Coeur d’Alene, is expanding in Nevada but what that means for the local facility’s employees hasn’t been disclosed.

“There is no story,” CEO Tom Power wrote to The Press in a text message on Wednesday. “We are expanding Las Vegas and this will not have any immediate impact on CDA.”

However, correspondence on Sunshine’s request to seek tax breaks from the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development indicates the company uprooting from Coeur d’Alene is at least an option being explored.

“While some may view this as an expansion of an existing business, the ownership of SMI view this as a new business relocation as we would be (relocating) all our corporate and administrative functions, in addition to all operational functions, to create these new opportunities,” Power wrote in a Feb. 8, 2016, letter to Steve Hill, executive director of the Nevada economic development agency.

“SMI would envision changing our corporate registration to a Nevada corporation. Our current plans to consolidate SMI’s U.S. operations in Las Vegas would result in 80 million ounces of silver flowing through the state of Nevada every year …”

In a letter to SMI employees about the Nevada expansion, Power said becoming a Nevada corporation has nothing to do with where the company is physically located and that it can continue to operate in Idaho even if it is a Nevada corporation.

“The biggest benefit as a company is that the less we pay in taxes, the more we can re-invest in new equipment and improved processes,” Power wrote.

Sunshine manufactures gold and silver blanks for mints, financial institutions, corporations, marketing firms, private groups and individuals around the world. It also offers bullion — Sunshine brand silver and gold bullion qualify for IRA investments — and custom minted products.

Power declined to comment to The Press on Wednesday, saying he is out of town and hasn’t met face to face with Coeur d’Alene employees about the expansion plans. He said he plans to address those workers on Monday before speaking to the media.

The Nevada economic development agency approved $711,027 in tax abatements to Sunshine last week. A story on the decision was published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

In a Feb. 8 letter to Hill, Perry Ursem of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance wrote: “Sunshine Minting, LLC is exploring their options to expand operations in the city of Henderson from a current staff of 130 by hiring 150 new employees and relocating 20 employees through the relocation of their corporate headquarters from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. These new hires will make an average hourly wage of $19.36 and be provided a generous benefits package.”

Ursem stated, depending on the outcome of Sunshine’s tax abatement application, the company would make a decision on where the expansion will occur.

“If approved for the abatements sought, the company plans to relocate all corporate, administrative and operational functions to the state of Nevada,” according to information in the Nevada economic development agency’s meeting packet.

The same summary states the company is also considering Coeur d’Alene as a potential location for expansion.

Power’s letter to SMI’s employees doesn’t specify what the activity in Nevada means to workers here, which prompted a phone call of concern by an anonymous employee to The Press.

“I can assure you that this is a positive move for SMI and for all employees, both in Nevada and Idaho, and is conducive to our growth as a company and as individuals,” Power wrote. “I want to remind everyone that this is a long-term opportunity for SMI, not something that is going to happen in the next few days, weeks or even months. I only ask that everyone stay focused on the important tasks at hand, and not get consumed by rhetoric and rumors.”

Power wrote SMI has struggled with space and manpower constraints, which has limited production output in Coeur d’Alene and Las Vegas. He stated the company has been looking for a larger facility for more than five years. It explored the former Kimball Office site in Post Falls before the deal fell apart at the last minute.

“For the past several years, we could have sold more product if we could have made more product, especially during the peak times,” Power wrote.

The company has secured a lease on a larger building in Henderson, Nev., that has room for expansion, Power wrote.

“I don’t have to tell you how congested the CDA operation is,” Power wrote. “The more space we have available, the more we can grow the business.”

Sunshine also employs 75 at its Shanghai, China, plant that opened in 2011 and 130 at its Las Vegas operation that opened in 2013.

Gynii Gilliam, president of Jobs Plus, the Coeur d’Alene area economic development agency, declined to comment on the Sunshine matter. However, she said in general her agency works hard on company retention, not just recruiting new businesses to the area.

“We try to be competitive in terms of incentives for companies and our legislators have worked to increase wages (under those incentives) so that they are more in line with other areas,” Gilliam said. “Economic development is a very competitive market because we are competing with so many other states. Sometimes it just logistically makes more sense for companies to be at other locations.”