What you will learn to do: Account for natural resources

Resources supplied by nature, such as ore deposits, mineral deposits, oil reserves, gas deposits, and timber stands, are natural resources or wasting assets. Natural resources represent inventories of raw materials that can be consumed (exhausted) through extraction or removal from their natural setting (e.g. removing oil from the ground).

Take a look at Note 9 of the Albemarle Corporation (ALB:NYSE) financials for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, from page 72 of the SEC form 10-K:

See the note long description here.

Notice a couple of things:

1. You are already familiar with land, land improvements, buildings, equipment, and construction in progress.
2. There is a new item: mineral rights and reserves (depletable assets).
3. In the text of the note, the company mentions straight-line depreciation, with which you are familiar.
4. Also in the text of the note, the company mentions depletion using the units-of-production method.

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets a wide variety of chemicals and reports operations based on three segments: Lithium, Bromine Specialties, and Catalysts. The company is based in North Carolina but operates research and development facilities around the world. The mineral rights they refer to include things like lithium brine ponds in places like Salar de Atacama, Chile, and Silver Peak, Nevada, USA, and bromine brine in Arkansas and the Dead Sea.