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INVENTORIES
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Sep. 30, 2014
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| Inventory Disclosure [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Inventories |
NOTE 4 - INVENTORIES
The following table presents the detail of our Inventories in the Statements of Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Position as of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013:
We recorded lower-of-cost-or-market inventory charges of $5.0 million and $42.1 million in Cost of goods sold and operating expenses in the Statements of Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively, for our North American Coal operations. The charges at North American Coal were a result of market pricing declines during the periods. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013, we recorded lower-of-cost-or-market inventory charges of $2.6 million and $5.3 million, respectively, for our North American Coal operations. These charges were a result of market pricing declines and costs associated with operational and geological issues.
We recorded lower-of-cost-or-market inventory charges of $2.6 million and $18.6 million in Cost of goods sold and operating expenses in the Statements of Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively, for our Eastern Canadian Iron Ore operations. The $2.6 million charge in the third quarter of 2014 is a result of declines in Platts 62 percent Fe fines spot pricing which resulted in a $1.9 million charge for Bloom Lake and is related to a $0.7 million adjustment of the remaining Wabush mine inventory to estimated net realizable value. The charges in the first half of 2014 at Eastern Canadian Iron Ore were a result of declines in Platts 62 percent Fe fines spot pricing and higher inventory costs at both Bloom Lake and Wabush. Bloom Lake’s higher inventory costs were driven by the timing of maintenance activities and mine development, whereas Wabush’s higher inventory costs were driven by unfavorable production performance up to the idling of the Scully mine operation and adjusting the inventory to estimated net realizable value.
We recorded a lower-of-cost-or-market inventory charge during the third quarter of 2013 of $5.9 million relating to concentrate inventory primarily driven by extended maintenance shutdowns that resulted in higher costs and reduced fixed-cost leverage. We recorded these charges in Cost of goods sold and operating expenses in the Statements of Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Operations for our Eastern Canadian Iron Ore operations. For the nine months ended September 30, 2013, the lower-of-cost-or-market inventory charge recorded was $10.6 million concentrate inventory. During the first half of 2013, the Wabush concentrate inventory charge was caused by higher costs as a result of transitioning into concentrate-only production and the forest fire that temporarily idled the mine in June.
Additionally, as a result of the idling of our Wabush pellet plant during the second quarter of 2013, we recorded a lower-of-cost-or-market inventory charge during the second quarter of 2013 of $11.1 million relating to Wabush pellets that were contractually committed tons and we recorded an unsaleable inventory impairment charge relating to Wabush pellets of $10.6 million as a result of our idling of the Wabush pellet plant during the second quarter of 2013. All of these charges recorded during the second quarter of 2013 were included in Cost of goods sold and operating expenses in the Statements of Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Operations for the nine months September 30, 2013 for our Eastern Canadian Iron Ore operations.
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