ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS

ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS

NOTE 12 ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS

The Company is responsible for reclamation of certain past and future disturbances at its properties. The most significant properties subject to these obligations are the Gold Bar and Tonkin properties in Nevada, the Timmins properties in Canada, and the El Gallo Project in Mexico.

A reconciliation of the Company’s asset retirement obligations for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 are as follows:

	December 31, 2019		December 31, 2018
Asset retirement obligation liability, beginning balance	$	29,402	$	24,722
Settlements		(513)		(392)
Accretion of liability		1,680		1,205
Adjustment reflecting updated estimates		1,012		5,024
Foreign exchange revaluation		620		(1,157)
Asset retirement obligation liability, ending balance	$	32,201	$	29,402
Current portion		(2,610)		(734)
Long-term portion	$	29,591	$	28,668

The adjustment reflecting updated estimates during the year ended December 31, 2019 includes a reduction of $5.3 million for the estimated environmental obligations for the Black Fox mine and an increase of $4.2 million for the estimated environmental obligations for the Gold Bar mine. The reduction in the estimated liability for Black Fox mine reflects the approval obtained from the Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines, of Ontario, Canada for the amended environmental closure plan filed during the period.  The increase for the Gold Bar mine liability is the result of additional disturbances during the year (December 31, 2018 - an additional $3.7 million related to disturbances).

Reclamation expense in the Statement of Operations includes adjustments for updates in reclamation liability for properties that do not have reserves in compliance with Guide 7 and reclamation accretion for all properties is as follows:

The Company’s reclamation expenses consisted of the following:
	Year ended December 31,
	2019		2018		2017
Reclamation adjustment reflecting updated estimates	$	1,851	$	2,259	$	1,426
Reclamation accretion		1,680		1,205		635
Total	$	3,531	$	3,464	$	2,061