Reclamation Bond Deposit

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Environmental Remediation Obligations [Abstract]

The Nevada Revised Statutes and Regulations require a surety bond to be posted for mining projects that leave the site safe, stable and capable of providing for a productive post-mining land use. The bond insures for the estimated costs required to safely reclaim the natural environment to the regulatory standards established by the State of Nevada’s Division of Environmental Protection with the purposes of ensuring public safety, protecting the waters of the state, and providing for post mining land use. Accordingly, we had a $5.2 million reclamation surety bond through the Lexon Surety Group (“Lexon”) with the State of Nevada’s Bureau of Mining Regulation Reclamation as of December 31, 2013 and 2012. As part of the surety agreement, the Company agreed to pay a 2.5% annual bonding fee. The total cash collateral, payable in installments through 2014, per the surety agreement was $2.6 million and $2.3 million at December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively. The total cash collateral is a component of the reclamation bond deposit in the consolidated balance sheets. At December 31, 2013, accrued expenses included the remaining $1 million due to Lexon. At December 31, 2012, accrued expenses included $1.4 million and other liabilities included $0.7 million of the total $2.1 million due to Lexon.

The reclamation bond deposit at December 31, 2013 and 2012 consisted of the following:



	2013		2012
Lexon surety bond cash collateral	$	2,600,000	$	2,300,000
Other cash reclamation bond deposits	142,804		210,804
Total	$	2,742,804	$	2,510,804

- Definition

The entire disclosure for environmental loss contingencies, such as presence of hazardous waste, relevant information from reports issued by regulators, and estimated costs to achieve compliance with regulatory requirements. This element may be used for all of an entity's disclosures about environmental loss contingencies.

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