content_image/233948.jpg content_image/233947.jpg content_image/233946.jpg content_image/233944.jpg
recorded income from operations of $35.9 million in 2013 as compared to $32.6 million in the prior year. Income from operations in the Refractories segment included an insurance settlement gain of $2.5 million. 

In 2012, the Specialty Minerals segment recorded income from operations of $87.7 million as compared with $76.6 million in the prior year. The Refractories segment recorded income from operations of $32.6 million in 2012 as compared with $33.2 million in the previous year. 

<img src='content_image/233948.jpg'>

The Company recorded non-operating deductions of $3.2 million in 2013 as compared with $3.0 million in the previous year. 

The Company recorded non-operating deductions of $3.0 million in 2012 as compared with $2.6 million in the previous year. Included in non-operating deductions in 2011 were foreign currency losses of $1.4 million recognized upon the sale of a 50% interest in and deconsolidation of the Company’s joint venture in Korea. 

<img src='content_image/233947.jpg'>

The Company recorded provision for taxes on income of $34.5 million in 2013 as compared with $31.9 million in the previous year. The effective tax rate for 2013 was 27.9% as compared with 28.9% in the prior year. The decrease in the tax rate in the current year primarily relates to the settlement of an IRS audit for tax years 2007 and 2008 and the impact of closing those years, the impact of the reversal of prior year charges resulting from the late extension of expiring corporate income tax provisions by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 and additional foreign tax credits generated and utilized. 

The Company recorded provision for taxes on income of $31.9 million in 2012 as compared to $28.7 million in the previous year. The effective tax rate for 2012 was 28.9% as compared with 28.3% in the previous year. The increase in the tax rate primarily relates to a prior year favorable United States tax court case settlement and the resulting expiration of the statute of limitations of the tax years related to the tax court case. 

The factors having the most significant impact on our effective tax rates in recent periods are the rate differential related to foreign earnings indefinitely invested, percentage depletion, and  the reversal of tax reserves as a result of a tax court case settlement. 

Percentage depletion allowances (tax deductions for depletion that may exceed our tax basis in our mineral reserves) are available to us under the income tax laws of the United States for operations conducted in the United States. The tax benefits from percentage depletion were $4.5 million in 2013, $4.1 million in 2012, and $4.0 million in 2011. 

We operate in various countries around the world that have tax laws, tax incentives and tax rates that are significantly different than those of the United States. Many of these differences combine to move our overall effective tax rate higher or lower than the United States statutory rate depending on the mix of income relative to income earned in the United States. The effects of foreign earnings and the related foreign rate differentials resulted in a decrease of income tax expense of $4.4 million, $4.6 million and $1.1 million in 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The increase of income tax benefits in 2013 as compared with 2012 results from the change in the mix of earnings in the foreign jurisdictions in 2013, statutory rate changes and a change in the amount of local income and tax adjustments. The increase of income tax benefits in 2012 as compared with 2011 results from the change in the mix of earnings in the foreign jurisdictions in 2012, statutory rate changes and a change in the amount of local income and tax adjustments. 

<img src='content_image/233946.jpg'>

The Company recognized income from continuing operations of $89.2 million in 2013 as compared to $78.7 million in 2012. In 2011, the company recorded income from operations of $72.7 million. 

<img src='content_image/233944.jpg'>

