The #4 Shaft project, an internal shaft at the Lucky Friday mine, will, upon its completion, provide deeper access in order to expand the mine’s  operational life. We commenced engineering and construction activities on #4 Shaft in late 2008, and our Board of Directors gave its final approval of  the project in August 2011. Construction of the #4 Shaft as currently designed is expected to cost approximately $200 million, including approximately  $92 million already spent as of December 31, 2012, with completion expected in 2016. As discussed above, the #4 Shaft sinking activities were  temporarily suspended until cleanup work in the Silver Shaft was completed in early 2013. We believe that our current capital resources will allow us to  complete the project. However, there are a number of factors that could affect completion of the project, including: (i) a significant decline in metals  prices, (ii) a reduction in available cash or credit, whether arising from decreased cash flow or other uses of available cash, (iii) increased regulatory  burden, or (iv) a significant increase in operating or capital costs. Many of the employees at our Lucky Friday unit are represented by a union. The collective bargaining agreement with the union expires on April 30,  2016. See  Item 1. Business, Employees  and  Item 1A. Risk Factors ,  Our business depends on finding skilled miners and maintaining good relations  with our employees  for more information on the status of employment levels and relations at the Lucky Friday unit.  In addition to the variances discussed in the  Results of Operations  section above, other significant variances affecting 2012 results compared to  2011 results were as follows: Other significant variances affecting 2011 results compared to 2010 results were as follows: y Higher general and administrative expense in 2012 by $2.7 million primarily due to increased workforce costs. y Lower other operating expense by $3.2 million, primarily as a result of $2.0 million in donations to the Hecla Charitable Foundation in 2011 (see  Note 15  of  Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements ). y An increase in other operating expense of $2.3 million in 2011 primarily due to an increase in pension plan actuarial liabilities. See  Note 8  of  Notes to Condensed Consolidation Financial Statements  for more information. y Interest expense increased by $0.7 million in 2011 due to the accrual of pre-lodging interest associated with the proposed terms of potential  settlement with the Plaintiffs in the Coeur d’Alene Basin environmental litigation that took place in the second quarter of 2011. The pre-lodging  interest period ended with lodging of the Consent Decree with the Court in June 2011. See  Note 4  of  Notes to the Condensed Consolidated  Financial Statements  for more information.  Our defined benefit pension plans, while affording a significant benefit to our employees, also represent a significant liability. During 2012, the  funded status of our plans changed from a liability of $22.8 million at the first of the year to a liability of $30.9 million at the end of the year. The  increased liability was attributable to service costs, interest costs, and amortization of actuarial losses, totaling $15 million, that exceeded returns on  plan assets and our contributions, totaling $6.9 million. We expect to contribute $1.3 million to the plans in 2013. While the economic variables which  will determine future cash requirements are uncertain, we expect contributions to increase in future years under current plan provisions, and we  periodically examine the plans for affordability and competitiveness. See  Note 8  of  Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements  for more information. Our net deferred tax asset at December 31, 2012 totaled $115.8 million, or 8% of total assets. The largest components of the deferred tax asset are  derived from deferred reclamation and the tax effect of past net operating losses carried forward to be applied against current income to determine  cash income tax liability. The majority of the deferred tax asset for deferred reclamation will be realized within the next two years, assuming adequate  taxable income. Each reporting period, we assess our deferred tax assets with long-range forecasts to provide reasonable assurance that they will be  realized through future earnings. As a result of such modeling, in 2010 we removed a substantial portion of the valuation allowance on our deferred tax  assets following analysis of our operational plans and increased prices, resulting in a tax benefit of $88.1 million. At December 31, 2012, with the  exception of $0.3 million relating to net operating loss carryforwards in states where we currently have no activity and $2.8 million for foreign tax  credits, we retained no valuation allowance on U.S. deferred tax assets. A $19.9 million valuation allowance remains on losses in foreign jurisdictions. As  discussed in  Note 5  of  Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements,  our effective tax rate was 37% for 2012, based on our review of statutory rates and  permanent book/tax differences. We currently expect the effective tax rate for 2013 to be approximately 36%.  The tables below present reconciliations between non-GAAP total cash costs to cost of sales and other direct production costs and depreciation,  depletion and amortization (GAAP) for our operations at the Greens Creek and Lucky Friday units for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and  2010 (in thousands, except costs per ounce).  Total cash costs include all direct and indirect operating cash costs related directly to the physical activities of producing metals, including mining,  processing and other plant costs, third-party refining expense, on-site general and administrative costs, royalties and mining production taxes, net of  by-product revenues earned from all metals other than the primary metal produced at each unit. Total cash costs provide management and investors  an indication of net cash flow, after consideration of the realized price received for production sold. Management also uses this measurement for the  comparative monitoring of performance of our mining operations period-to-period from a cash flow perspective. “Total cash cost per ounce” is a  measure developed by precious metals companies in an effort to provide a uniform standard for comparison purposes; however, there can be no  assurance that our reporting of this non-GAAP measure is similar to that reported by other mining companies.  Cost of sales and other direct production costs and depreciation, depletion and amortization, is the most comparable financial measure calculated  in accordance with GAAP to total cash costs. The sum of the cost of sales and other direct production costs and depreciation, depletion and  amortization for our operating units in the tables below is presented in our Consolidated Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss). [ HL:10-K ] 27 Reconciliation of Total Cash Costs (non-GAAP) to Cost of Sales and Other Direct Production Costs and Depreciation, Depletion and  Amortization (GAAP) Income Taxes Employee Benefit Plans Corporate Matters