ENVIRONMENTAL AND MINE CLOSURE OBLIGATIONS |
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| Environmental Remediation Obligations [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ENVIRONMENTAL AND MINE CLOSURE OBLIGATIONS |
NOTE 11 - ENVIRONMENTAL AND MINE CLOSURE OBLIGATIONS
We had environmental and mine closure liabilities of $211.0 million and $206.8 million at March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively. The following is a summary of the obligations as of March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016:
Mine Closure
The accrued closure obligation for our active mining operations provides for contractual and legal obligations associated with the eventual closure of the mining operations. The accretion of the liability and amortization of the related asset is recognized over the estimated mine lives for each location.
The following represents a roll forward of our asset retirement obligation liability for the three months ended March 31, 2017 and for the year ended December 31, 2016:
For the year ended December 31, 2016, the revisions in estimated cash flows recorded during the year related primarily to revisions in the timing of the estimated cash flows related to two of our U.S. mines. The Empire mine asset retirement obligation was reduced $29.6 million as a result of the further refinement of the timing of cash flows and a downward revision of estimated asset retirement costs related to technology associated with required storm water management systems expected to be implemented. Additionally, during 2016, a new economic reserve estimate was completed for United Taconite, increasing salable product reserves by 115 million long tons and consequently significantly increasing the life-of-mine plan, resulting in a $9.2 million decrease in the asset retirement obligation.
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