Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

v2.4.1.9
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]  
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
NOTE 4 - PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
The following table indicates the value of each of the major classes of our consolidated depreciable assets as of December 31, 2014 and 2013:
 
(In Millions)
 
December 31,
 
2014
 
2013
Land rights and mineral rights
$
590.2

 
$
7,819.6

Office and information technology
75.5

 
125.7

Buildings
65.6

 
255.2

Mining equipment
732.6

 
1,819.3

Processing equipment
567.4

 
2,148.6

Electric power facilities
48.8

 
114.3

Land improvements
25.5

 
69.3

Other
60.8

 
227.6

Construction in-progress
51.3

 
991.3

 
2,217.7

 
13,570.9

Allowance for depreciation and depletion
(802.8
)
 
(2,417.5
)
 
$
1,414.9

 
$
11,153.4


We recorded depreciation expense of $320.6 million, $366.9 million and $293.5 million in the Statements of Consolidated Operations for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively.
At December 31, 2014, there was no accumulated amount of capitalized interest included within construction-in-progress. At December 31, 2013, $31.4 million of capitalized interest was included within construction in-progress, of which $17.4 million was capitalized during 2013.
During the second half of 2014, due to lower than previously expected profits as a result of decreased iron ore pricing expectations and increased costs, we determined that indicators of impairment with respect to certain of our long-lived assets or asset groups existed. Our asset groups generally consist of the assets and liabilities of one or more mines, preparation plants and associated reserves for which the lowest level of identifiable cash flows largely are independent of cash flows of other mines, preparation plants and associated reserves.
As a result of these assessments during 2014, we determined that the future cash flows associated with our Eastern Canadian Iron Ore, Asia Pacific Iron Ore, North American Coal and Ferroalloys asset groups were not sufficient to support the recoverability of the carrying value of these productive assets. Accordingly, during 2014, an other long-lived asset impairment charge of $8,839.0 million was recorded as Impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets in the Statements of Consolidated Operations related to property, plant and equipment. The fair value estimates were calculated using income and market approaches. Refer to NOTE 6 - FAIR VALUE OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS for further discussion of these impairments and related fair value estimates.
During the fourth quarter of 2013, we experienced higher than expected production costs and operational inefficiencies at our Wabush operations within our Eastern Canadian Iron Ore operating segment that resulted in continued declines in our profitability of that business, which represented an asset group for purposes of testing our long-lived assets for recoverability. Upon completion of an impairment analysis, it was determined the fair value was less than the carrying value of the asset group, which resulted in an other long-lived asset impairment charge of tangible property, plant and equipment of $140.1 million as Impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets in the Statements of Consolidated Operations for the year ended December 31, 2013. The fair value estimate was calculated using a market approach.
The net book value of the land rights and mineral rights as of December 31, 2014 and 2013 is as follows:
 
(In Millions)
 
December 31,
 
2014
 
2013
Land rights
$
31.9

 
$
46.3

Mineral rights:

 

Cost
$
558.3

 
$
7,773.3

Depletion
(101.3
)
 
(942.6
)
Net mineral rights
$
457.0

 
$
6,830.7


Accumulated depletion relating to mineral rights, which was recorded using the unit-of-production method, is included in Cost of goods sold and operating expenses. We recorded depletion expense of $173.0 million, $206.5 million and $209.8 million in the Statements of Consolidated Operations for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. As discussed above, during 2014 we performed impairment assessments with respect to certain of our long-lived assets or asset groups. As a result of these assessments, we recorded an other long-lived asset impairment charge related to mineral rights of $5,772.7 million associated with our Eastern Canadian Iron Ore, Asia Pacific Iron Ore, North American Coal and Ferroalloys asset groups.