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ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATION: | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2014
ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATION: |
ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATION: | NOTE 6 — ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATION: The Company maintains an estimated asset retirement obligation for its mining properties in Peru, as required by the Peruvian Mine Closure Law. In accordance with the requirements of this law, the Company’s closure plans were approved by the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines (“MINEM”). As part of the closure plans, the Company is required to provide annual guarantees over the estimated life of the mines, based on a present value approach, and to furnish the funds for the asset retirement obligation. This law requires reviews of closing plans every five years. Currently and for the near-term future, the Company has pledged the value of its Lima office complex as support for this obligation. The accepted value of the Lima office building, for this purpose, is $27.8 million. Through September 2014, the Company has provided guarantees of $14.2 million. The closure cost recognized for this liability includes the cost, as outlined in its closure plans, of dismantling the Toquepala and Cuajone concentrators, the smelter and refinery in Ilo, and the shops and auxiliary facilities at the three units, including the Ilo marine trestle. In the last quarter of 2012, the Company submitted updates to the closure plans for Toquepala, Cuajone and Ilo in accordance with the law. As a result of these revised plans, the Company adjusted its asset retirement obligation. In 2010, the Company communicated to the Mexican federal environmental authorities its closure plans for the copper smelter plant at San Luis Potosi. The Company initiated a program for plant demolition and soil remediation. In January 2014, the Company approved an increase in the budget for this program to $62.4 million, of which the Company has spent $43.8 million through September 30, 2014. Plant demolition and construction of a confinement area at the south of the property were completed in 2012 and the Company expects to complete soil remediation and the construction of a second confinement area by the end of 2014. The Company expects that once the site is remediated, a decision will be made on whether sell or develop the property. In 2012, the Company recognized an estimated asset retirement obligation for its mining properties in Mexico as part of its environmental commitment. Even though, there is currently no enacted law, statute, ordinance, or written or oral contract requiring the Company to carry out mine closure and environmental remediation activities, the Company believes that a constructive obligation presently exists based on, among other things, the remediation caused by the closure of the San Luis Potosi smelter in 2010. Consequently, according to ASC- 410-20 on December 31, 2012 the Company recorded an asset retirement obligation of $25.1 million and increased net property by $20.3 million. The overall cost recognized for mining closure includes the estimated costs of dismantling concentrators, smelter and refinery plants, shops and other facilities. The following table summarizes the asset retirement obligation activity for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013 (in millions):
|  | 2014 |  | 2013 |
Balance as of January 1 |  | $ | 124.8 |  | $ | 122.3 |
Changes in estimates |  | 26.7 |  | — |
Closure payments |  | (8.1 | ) | (2.3 | )
Accretion expense |  | 5.8 |  | 6.7 |
Balance as of September 30, |  | $ | 149.2 |  | $ | 126.7 |

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- Definition The entire disclosure for an asset retirement obligation and the associated long-lived asset. An asset retirement obligation is a legal obligation associated with the disposal or retirement from service of a tangible long-lived asset that results from the acquisition, construction or development, or the normal operations of a long-lived asset, except for certain obligations of lessees. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 410 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6392692&loc=d3e7535-110849 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 410 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6392692&loc=d3e7569-110849 + Details
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