Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Income Tax Expense (Benefit) [Abstract]

Income Taxes

INCOME TAXES

The provision for income taxes includes the following components:

	For the three months ended March 31,
	2012			2011
Current tax expense
Canada	$	—		$	—
Foreign	—			(899		)
Deferred tax expense
Canada	—			—
Foreign	(12,531		)	(3,406		)
Total tax expense	$	(12,531	)	$	(4,305	)

The deferred tax expense is related to the change in the temporary difference between book and tax basis at GSWL. In the first quarter of 2012, Ghana passed new tax laws that raised the statutory rate from 25% to 35%. This tax change had a $9.6 million impact on the first quarter 2012 deferred tax expense relating to the temporary difference at GSWL arising from prior periods. The tax expense related to the activity of the first quarter of 2012 is $2.9 million. The historical tax losses in Canada are sufficient to cover the taxable gain on the sale of the Burkina Faso Subsidiary to Riverstone. No tax expense has been recorded related to this transaction.

The current tax expense in 2011 was related to a temporary tax levy on certain Ghanaian industries, including; mining, brewing, banking, communications and insurance. The levy was set at 5% of “profits before tax” as disclosed on the statements of operations. The levy expired at the end of 2011.