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Summary of significant accounting policies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2011
Summary of significant accounting policies [Abstract] |
Summary of significant accounting policies |
1. | Summary of significant accounting policies
Organization and Basis of Presentation - Century Aluminum Company (“Century Aluminum,” “Century,” “we”, “us”, “our” or “ours”) is a holding company, whose principal subsidiaries are Century Kentucky, Inc., Nordural ehf (“Nordural”), Berkeley Aluminum, Inc. (“Berkeley”), and Century Aluminum of West Virginia, Inc. (“Century of West Virginia”). Century Kentucky, Inc. operates a primary aluminum reduction facility in Hawesville, Kentucky (“Hawesville”). Nordural Grundartangi ehf operates a primary aluminum reduction facility in Grundartangi, Iceland (“Grundartangi”). Century of West Virginia operates a primary aluminum reduction facility in Ravenswood, West Virginia (“Ravenswood”). Berkeley holds a 49.7% interest in a partnership which operates a primary aluminum reduction facility in Mt. Holly, South Carolina (“Mt. Holly”) and a 49.7% undivided interest in the property, plant, and equipment comprising Mt. Holly. The remaining interest in the partnership and the remaining undivided interest in Mt. Holly are owned by Alumax of South Carolina, Inc., a subsidiary of Alcoa. Alumax of South Carolina manages and operates Mt. Holly pursuant to an Owners Agreement, prohibiting the disposal of the interest held by any of the owners without the consent of the other owners and providing for certain rights of first refusal. Pursuant to the Owners Agreement, each owner furnishes their own alumina, for conversion to aluminum, and is responsible for their pro rata share of the operating and conversion costs. We also own a 40% stake in Baise Haohai Carbon Co., Ltd. (“BHH”), a carbon anode and cathode facility located in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of south China. BHH, in addition to its Chinese customers, supplies anodes to Grundartangi. In August 2009, we divested our joint venture interests in the Gramercy alumina refinery, located in Gramercy, Louisiana (“Gramercy”) and St. Ann Bauxite Limited (“St. Ann”), a related bauxite mining operation in Jamaica. Prior to our initial public offering, we were an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Glencore International AG (together with its subsidiaries, “Glencore”). At December 31, 2011, Glencore owned 41.6% of Century's outstanding common stock and all of our outstanding Series A Convertible Preferred stock. Century and Glencore enter into various transactions such as the purchase and sale of primary aluminum, purchase and sale of alumina, tolling agreements and primary aluminum put option contracts. Principles of Consolidation - The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Century Aluminum Company and our subsidiaries, after elimination of all significant intercompany transactions and accounts. Berkeley's interest in the Mt. Holly partnership and our interest in the BHH joint venture and our past interest in the Gramercy and St. Ann joint ventures are accounted for under the equity method. Our equity in the earnings of St. Ann was recorded net of Jamaican taxes. Revenue recognition- Revenue is recognized when title and risk of loss pass to customers in accordance with contract terms. In some instances, we invoice our customers prior to physical shipment of goods. In such instances, revenue is recognized only when the customer has specifically requested such treatment and has made a commitment to purchase the product. The goods must be complete, ready for shipment and physically separated from other inventory with risk of ownership passing to the customer. We must retain no performance obligations and a delivery schedule must be obtained. Cash and Cash Equivalents - Cash and cash equivalents are comprised of cash, money market funds and short-term investments having original maturities of three months or less. The carrying amount of cash equivalents approximates fair value. Accounts Receivable - The accounts receivable are net of an allowance for uncollectible accounts of $734 and $734 at December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively. Inventories - Our inventories are stated at the lower of cost (using the first-in, first-out (“FIFO”) method) or market. Property, Plant and Equipment - Property, plant and equipment is stated at cost. Additions, renewals and improvements are capitalized. Asset and accumulated depreciation accounts are relieved for dispositions with resulting gains or losses included in other income (expense). Maintenance and repairs are expensed as incurred. We capitalize interest for the construction of qualifying assets. Depreciation of plant and equipment is provided for by the straight-line method over the following estimated useful lives:
| Buildings and improvements: | 14 to 45 years
| Machinery and equipment: | 5 to 22 years
We periodically evaluate the carrying value of long-lived assets to be held and used when events and circumstances warrant such a review. The carrying value of a separately identifiable, long-lived asset is considered impaired when the anticipated undiscounted cash flow from such asset is less than its carrying value. In that event, a loss is recognized based on the amount by which the carrying value exceeds the fair value of the long-lived asset. Fair value is determined primarily using the anticipated cash flows discounted at a rate commensurate with the risk involved. We did not recognize any impairment losses on our long-lived fixed assets during 2011, 2010 or 2009. Intangible Assets – As of December 31, 2011 and 2010, we had no intangible assets. Our intangible asset prior to July 2009 consisted of the power contract acquired in connection with our 2001 acquisition of Hawesville. We entered into a new power agreement at Hawesville in July 2009 and expensed the remaining value of the intangible asset at that time. For the year ended December 31, 2009, amortization expense for the intangible asset totaled $8,769. Other Assets - Other assets consist primarily of Century's investment in the Mt. Holly partnership, investments in joint ventures, deferred financing costs, a Rabbi trust to fund the non-qualified SERB benefit obligation, cash surrender value of life insurance policies and operating maintenance supplies not expected to be consumed within the year. Our equity share of the undistributed earnings (loss) increases (decreases) the investment in the joint ventures. Deferred financing costs are amortized on a straight-line basis over the life of the related financial instrument. We account for our interest in the Mt. Holly partnership using the equity method of accounting. Additionally, our undivided interest in certain property, plant and equipment of Mt. Holly is held outside of the partnership and the undivided interest in these assets of the facility is accounted for in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 810-10-45-14 “Investor Balance Sheet and Income Statement Display under the Equity Method for Investments in Certain Partnerships and Other Ventures”. Accordingly, the undivided interest in these assets and the related depreciation are being accounted for on a proportionate gross basis. Income Taxes - We account for income taxes using the liability method, whereby deferred income taxes reflect the net tax effect of temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for income tax purposes. In evaluating our ability to realize deferred tax assets, we use judgment in considering the relative impact of negative and positive evidence. The weight given to the potential effect of negative and positive evidence is commensurate with the extent to which it can be objectively verified. Based on the weight of evidence, both negative and positive, if it is more likely than not that some portion or all of a deferred tax asset will not be realized, a valuation allowance is established. Accordingly, we have a valuation allowance against a portion of our federal and state deferred tax assets due to our belief that it is more likely than not that these assets will not be realized. We have a valuation allowance against a portion of our Icelandic and Hong Kong net operating losses (“NOL”) deferred tax assets due to our belief that it is more likely than not that these assets will not be realized. See Note 14 Income Taxes for additional information. We have removed our election to permanently reinvest foreign earnings for 2011, 2010 and 2009. Postemployment Benefits - We provide certain postemployment benefits to former and inactive employees and their dependents during the period following employment, but before retirement. These benefits include salary continuance, supplemental unemployment and disability healthcare. We recognize the estimated future cost of providing postemployment benefits on an accrual basis over the active service life of the employee. Derivatives and hedging - We routinely enter into fixed and market priced contracts for the sale of primary aluminum and the purchase of raw materials in future periods. We also enter into fixed price financial sales contracts and put option contracts to be settled in cash to manage our exposure to changing primary aluminum prices. We have also entered into financial purchase contracts for natural gas to be settled in cash to manage our exposure to changing natural gas prices. Certain physical delivery and financial sales contracts for primary aluminum are not designated cash flow hedges or do not qualify for cash flow hedge treatment are marked-to-market quarterly. Fluctuations in the London Metal Exchange (“LME”) price of primary aluminum may have a significant impact on gains and losses included in our financial statements from period to period. We recognize the unrealized and realized gains and losses associated with these contracts in net gain (loss) on forward contracts. Our power supply agreement at Ravenswood contains LME-based pricing provisions that are an embedded derivative. The embedded derivative does not qualify for cash flow hedge treatment and is marked to market quarterly. See Note 4 Fair Value Measurements and Note 5 Derivatives and hedging instruments for additional information about these contracts. Foreign Currency – We are exposed to foreign currency risk due to fluctuations in the value of the U.S. dollar as compared to the euro, the Icelandic krona (“ISK”) and the Chinese yuan. Nordural uses the U.S. dollar as its functional currency, however a portion of the operating expenses of the Grundartangi facility are denominated and payable in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Grundartangi's labor and certain other local costs are denominated in ISK and a portion of its anode costs are denominated in euros. Transactions denominated in currencies other than the functional currency are recorded based on exchange rates at the time such transactions arise and any transaction gains and losses are reflected in other income (expense) in the consolidated statements of operations. In addition, our joint venture investment in BHH uses the Chinese yuan as its functional currency. For our joint venture investments, we record gains and losses associated with foreign currency exchange rates in equity in earnings of joint ventures. Financial Instruments - Our receivables, payables and debt related to industrial revenue bonds (“IRBs”) are carried at amounts that approximate fair value. The following table provides the carrying amounts and approximate fair value (based the last available trading data) of our 8.0% senior notes due 2014 (the “8.0% Notes”), our 7.5% senior unsecured notes due 2014 (the “7.5% Notes”) and our 1.75% convertible senior notes due 2024 (the “1.75% Notes”).
|  | December 31, 2011 |  |  | December 31, 2010 |
|  | Carrying amount |  |  | Fair value |  |  | Carrying amount |  |  | Fair value |
8.0% Notes |  | $ | 246,909 |  |  | $ | 249,292 |  |  | $ | 245,927 |  |  | $ | 249,604 |
7.5% Notes |  |  | 2,603 |  |  |  | 2,564 |  |  |  | 2,603 |  |  |  | 2,541 |
1.75% Notes |  |  | –– |  |  |  | - |  |  |  | 45,483 |  |  |  | 46,588 |
Concentration of Credit Risk - Financial instruments, which potentially expose us to concentrations of credit risk, consist principally of trade receivables and primary aluminum put option contracts. Our limited customer base increases our concentrations of credit risk with respect to trade receivables. We routinely assess the financial strength of our customers and collectability of our trade receivables. Use of Estimates - The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Stock-Based Compensation -We use the Black-Scholes option-pricing model to estimate the fair value of our stock option grants and service-based share awards on the grant date of the share award. Information about our assumptions used to determine the fair value of the grants in 2011, 2010 and 2009 is available in Note 12 Share-based Compensation. Recently Issued Accounting Standards – We evaluate the impact of FASB accounting standards updates (“ASUs”) issued. When the adoption or planned adoption of recently issued ASUs will potentially have a material impact on our consolidated financial position, results of operations, and cash flows, we disclose the quantitative and qualitative effects of the adoption in our consolidated financial statements. Recently Adopted Accounting Standards– In June 2011, the FASB issued ASU 2011-05, “Comprehensive Income”. This ASU addresses the financial statement presentation of other comprehensive income and its components. Companies may elect to present items of net income and other comprehensive income in one continuous statement or in two separate, but consecutive, statements. This guidance will only impact the presentation of our financial statements and have no impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. We elected to adopt ASU 2011-05 early and have included the updated presentation requirements in the current financial statements. In September 2011, the FASB issued ASU 2011-09, “Disclosure about an Employer's Participation in Multiemployer Benefit Plans,” which amends current pension disclosure requirements by increasing the quantitative and qualitative disclosures that we are required to provide about our participation in significant multiemployer plans that offer pension and other postretirement benefits. The ASU's objective is to enhance the transparency of disclosures about (1) the significant multiemployer plans in which we participate, (2) the level of our participation in those plans, (3) the financial health of the plans, and (4) the nature of our commitments to the plans. We adopted ASU 2011-09 in 2011. This guidance impacted only the disclosures within our financial statements and had no impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. The ASU is effective for our current fiscal year ending December 31, 2011. See Note 11 Pension and other postemployment benefits for additional information.

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