BENEFIT PLANS:

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

BENEFIT PLANS:

BENEFIT PLANS:

NOTE 8- BENEFIT PLANS:

Post retirement defined benefit plans

The Company has two noncontributory defined benefit pension plans covering former salaried employees in the United States and certain former expatriate employees in Peru. Effective October 31, 2000, the Board of Directors amended the qualified pension plan to suspend the accrual of benefits.

In October 2014, the Society of Actuaries (SOA) issued new mortality tables based on a comprehensive study of private retirement plans. Effective December 31, 2014, the Company elected to update the mortality assumption to the new SOA tables.

In addition, the Company’s Mexican subsidiaries have a defined contribution pension plan for salaried employees and a non-contributory defined benefit pension plan for union employees.

The components of the net periodic benefit costs for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014 are as follows (in millions):

	2015			2014
Service cost	$	0.7		$	0.9
Interest cost	0.7			0.9
Expected return on plan assets	(2.4		)	(2.7		)
Amortization of net actuarial loss	(0.3		)	(0.3		)
Amortization of net loss (gain)	0.3			0.1
Net periodic benefit cost	$	(1.0	)	$	(1.1	)

Post-retirement health care plan

Peru: The Company adopted a post-retirement health care plan for retired salaried employees eligible for Medicare in 1996. The Company manages the plan and is currently providing health benefits to retirees. The plan is accounted for in accordance with ASC 715 “Compensation retirement benefits”.

Mexico: Through 2007, the Buenavista unit provided health care services free of charge to employees and retired unionized employees and their families through its own hospital at the Buenavista unit. In 2011, the Company signed an agreement with the Secretary of Health of the State of Sonora to provide these services to its retired workers and their families. The new workers of Buenavista del Cobre will receive health services from the Mexican Institute of Social Security as is the case for all Mexican workers.

The components of the net periodic benefit cost for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014 are as follows (in millions):

	2015			2014
Interest cost	$	1.0		$	1.0
Amortization of net loss (gain)	(0.2		)	(0.2		)
Amortization of prior service cost (credit)	(*		)	(*		)
Net periodic benefit cost	$	0.8		$	0.8

(*) amount is lower than $0.1 million