Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations [Abstract]

Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations

Note 19.  Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations

     The Company records asset retirement obligations in which the Company will be required to retire tangible long-lived assets. These are primarily related to its PCC satellite facilities and mining operations. The Company has also recorded the provisions related to conditional asset retirement obligations at its facilities. The Company has recorded asset retirement obligations at all of its facilities except where there are no contractual or legal obligations. The associated asset retirement costs are capitalized as part of the carrying amount of the long-lived asset.

     The following is a reconciliation of asset retirement obligations as of December 31, 2012 and 2011:

(Millions of Dollars)		2012			2011
Asset retirement liability, beginning of period	$	14.7		$	14.7
Accretion expense		0.7			0.6
Additional obligations		0.1			0.2
Reversal of obligations		(0.2	)		(0.4	)
Payments		(0.3	)		(0.2	)
Foreign currency translation		--			(0.2	)
Asset retirement liability, end of period	$	15.0		$	14.7

     The current portion of the liability of approximately $0.3 million is included in other current liabilities. The long-term portion of the liability of approximately $14.7 million is included in other non-current liabilities.

     Accretion expense is included in cost of goods sold in the Company's Consolidated Statements of Income.