Asset Retirement Obligation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Asset Retirement Obligation Disclosure [Abstract]



9.	Asset Retirement Obligation

ASC Topic 410-20, “Asset Retirement and Environmental Obligations, Asset Retirement Obligations” requires the recording of a liability in the period in which an asset retirement obligation (ARO) is incurred, in an amount equal to the discounted estimated fair value of the obligation that is capitalized. In each subsequent fiscal quarter, this liability is accreted up to the final retirement cost. The determination of the ARO is based on an estimate of the future cost to remove and decontaminate the Company’s facility at TRIC upon closure. The estimated fair value of the closure costs is based on vendor quotes to remove and decontaminate the McCarran facility in accordance with the Company’s closure plan as filed with the State of Nevada in its “Application for the Recycling of Hazardous Waste, by Written Determination” in 2016. The actual costs could be higher or lower than current estimates. The discounted estimated fair value of the closure costs was $0.7 million and the obligation was recorded as of March 31, 2017, when the obligation was deemed to have occurred. Offsetting this ARO is, as noted in Note 5 above, an asset retirement cost of the same amount that was capitalized. Accretion of the ARO for the year ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 was $44,000 and $31,000 respectively.

The Company entered into a facility closure trust agreement in October 2017 for the benefit of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP), an agency of the Nevada Division of Conservation and Natural Resources. Funds deposited in the trust are to be available, when and if needed, for potential decontamination and hazardous material cleanup in connection with the closure and/or post-closure care of the facility. The trustee will reimburse the Company or other persons as specified by the NDEP from the fund for closure and post-closure expenditures in such amounts as the NDEP shall direct in writing. Through December 31, 2018, $670,000 has been contributed to the trust fund.