On January 23, 2012, the SEC released a compliance guide outlining mine safety disclosure reporting requirements. The guide summarizes and explains rules, adopted by the SEC on December 21, 2011, requiring public companies that are operators or have a subsidiary that is an operator of a mine to disclose certain information about mine health and safety matters in their annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC. The new rules are meant to implement Section 1503 of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Under the rules, companies must provide certain information for each mine they or a subsidiary operate that is subject to the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1988. The rules apply to the following annual and quarterly reports:

Companies must provide disclosure for the quarter covered by the report in each Form 10-Q and disclosure covering the entire fiscal year in their annual reports.

The rules also require the covered companies to file a Form 8-K when they receive certain notices and orders from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, including:

The final rules go into effect on January 27, 2012.

For more information on the new mine safety disclosure requirements, see Legal Update, SEC Adopts Mine Safety Disclosure Requirements and Practice Note, Summary of the Dodd-Frank Act: SEC Authority and Selected Securities Act and Exchange Act Provisions.