PREPAID LAND USE RIGHTS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Prepaid Land Use Rights [Abstract]

PREPAID LAND USE RIGHTS

NOTE 9 PREPAID LAND USE RIGHTS

The Company has recorded as prepaid land use rights the lump sum payments paid to acquire long-term interests to utilize the land underlying the building and production facility.  This type of arrangement is common for the use of land in the PRC.  The prepaid land use rights are expensed on the straight-line basis over the term of the land use rights of 50 years. 

The amounts expensed on prepaid land use rights for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010 were $404,207, $395,052 and $206,912, respectively.  The estimated expense of the prepaid land use rights over each of the next five years and thereafter will be $405,944 per annum.

As of December 31, 2012, prepaid land use rights included RMB32,399,100 ($5,154,578) representing payments made by Lihua Copper to a local authority to acquire a 50-year right to use a parcel of land which will be used for expansion of its manufacturing facilities. As of December 31, 2012, RMB2,399,100 ($381,688), included as other payables and accruals as of December 31, 2012 and 2011, remained unpaid. Apart from the payment of $5,154,578 to the local authority, the Company also paid $5,772,149 to various local authorities primarily as compensation to the local communities in connection with the Company’s acquisition of these land use rights.

The Company has completed all the formalities in relation to the acquisition of the land use rights, except for paying the last payment of RMB2,399,100 ($381,688). Based on the Company’s understanding of the process, each year the local government allocates certain area (mu) of land to selected local manufacturers. However, the physical land use right certificates are not issued to those manufacturers until the local government receives the formal annual land quota from the state government. The Company received a land use rights certificate in November 2011 for 100 mu out of a total of 180 mu of land allocated to the Company, and management expects to receive the land use rights certificate for the remaining 80 mu in 2013. Upon receipt of the land use right certificates for the remaining 80 mu of land, the Company will pay the remaining land use payments.

Based upon the local government practice, as well as the Company’s prior experience obtaining land use rights after going through the same process, management believes that the risk of losing the already allocated land use right is extremely low. In the unlikely event that the local government is unable to issue the physical land use right certificate for the remaining 80 mu of land, we believe we would have the right to receive a refund of the payment we made to the local government with respect to the land use right and, request to receive additional monies from the local government for construction costs incurred to date on the land.