COMPONENTS OF PENSION PLAN NET PERIODIC BENEFIT COSTS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

COMPONENTS OF PENSION PLAN NET PERIODIC BENEFIT COSTS

COMPONENTS OF PENSION PLAN NET PERIODIC BENEFIT COSTS

17.COMPONENTS OF PENSION PLAN NET PERIODIC BENEFIT COSTS

Eligible employees at certain of our mining operations participate in a defined benefit plan (the "Pension Plan") that we sponsor. The Pension Plan is currently closed to new applicants and participants in the Pension Plan are no longer receiving benefit accruals for service. The benefit formula for the Pension Plan is a fixed dollar unit based on years of service. Components of the net periodic benefit cost for each of the periods presented are as follows:


	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
	2020		2019		2020		2019

	(in thousands)
Interest cost	$	1,030	$	1,217	$	3,138	$	3,649
Expected return on plan assets		(1,413)		(1,233)		(4,396)		(3,699)
Amortization of prior service cost		47		46		140		139
Amortization of net loss		969		980		3,096		2,941
Net periodic benefit cost (1)	$	633	$	1,010	$	1,978	$	3,030

(1)

Net periodic benefit cost for the Pension Plan is included in the Other expense line item within our condensed consolidated statements of income.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, we made contribution payments of $1.7 million to the Pension Plan for the 2019 plan year. We expect to defer additional contributions to the Pension Plan until December 2020 as permitted under the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act of 2020 enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.