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STOCK COMPENSATION PLANS
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Sep. 30, 2012
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| Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| STOCK COMPENSATION PLANS |
NOTE 14 - STOCK COMPENSATION PLANS
Employees’ Plans
On March12, 2012, the Compensation and Organization Committee (“Committee”) of the Board of Directors approved a grant under our shareholder-approved ICE Plan for the performance period 2012 – 2014. A total of 426,610 shares were granted under the award, consisting of 312,540 performance shares and 114,070 restricted share units.
For the outstanding ICE Plan award agreements, each performance share, if earned, entitles the holder to receive a number of common shares or cash within the range between a threshold and maximum number of our common shares, with the actual number of common shares earned dependent upon whether the Company achieves certain objectives and performance goals as established by the Committee. The performance share or unit grants vest over a period of three years and are intended to be paid out in common shares or cash in certain circumstances. Performance for the 2010 – 2012 performance period and 2011 – 2013 performance period is measured on the basis of two factors: 1) relative TSR for the period and 2) three-year cumulative free cash flow. The relative TSR for the 2010 – 2012 performance period is measured against a predetermined peer group of mining and metals companies and for the 2011 – 2013 performance period is measured against the constituents of the S & P Metals and Mining ETF Index on the last day of trading of the incentive period. Performance for the 2012 – 2014 performance period is measured only on the basis of relative TSR for the period and measured against the constituents of the S & P Metals and Mining ETF Index on the last day of trading of the incentive period. The final payout for the 2010 – 2012 performance period will vary from zero to 150 percent of the original grant. The final payouts for the 2011 – 2013 performance period and the 2012 – 2014 performance period will vary from zero to 200 percent of the original grant. The restricted share units are subject to continued employment, are retention based, will vest at the end of the respective performance period for the performance shares, and are payable in common shares or cash in certain circumstances at a time determined by the Committee at its discretion.
Upon the occurrence of a change in control, all performance shares, restricted share units, restricted stock, performance units and retention units granted to a participant will vest and become nonforfeitable and will be paid out in cash.
Our Board of Directors approved the new 2012 Equity Plan on March 13, 2012 and our shareholders approved it on May 8, 2012, effective as of March 13, 2012. The new 2012 Equity Plan replaced the ICE Plan. The maximum number of shares that may be issued under the 2012 Equity Plan is 6,000,000. A total of 22,575 shares were granted under the 2012 Equity Plan as of September30, 2012.
The ICE Plan was terminated on May 8, 2012 and no shares will be issued from the ICE Plan after this date. Upon termination of the ICE Plan, all awards previously granted under the ICE Plan shall continue in full force and effect in accordance with the terms of the award.
Determination of Fair Value
The fair value of each grant is estimated on the date of grant using a Monte Carlo simulation to forecast relative TSR performance. A correlation matrix of historic and projected stock prices was developed for both the Company and our predetermined peer group of mining and metals companies. The fair value assumes that performance goals will be achieved.
The expected term of the grant represents the time from the grant date to the end of the service period for each of the three plan-year agreements. We estimate the volatility of our common shares and that of the peer group of mining and metals companies using daily price intervals for all companies. The risk-free interest rate is the rate at the grant date on zero-coupon government bonds, with a term commensurate with the remaining life of the performance plans.
The following assumptions were utilized to estimate the fair value for the first quarter of 2012 performance share grants:
The fair value of the restricted share units is determined based on the closing price of the Company’s common shares on the grant date. The restricted share units granted under either the ICE Plan or 2012 Equity Plan vest over a period of three years.
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