The paragraphs in this section compare our balance sheet as of December 31, 2012 to that as of December 31, 2011. We also make comparisons between cash flows for the twelve months ended December 31, 2012 as compared to the twelve months ended December 31, 2011.
Cash flow generated from operating activities increased $69.6 million largely due to improved management of non-cash working capital and greater net income. We also paid down $12.3 million of long-term debt during the current period as opposed to borrowing $25.3 million in the prior year period. Long-term debt as a percentage of total capitalization decreased 490 basis points to 34.8%.
Capital expenditures were $74.7 million as compared to $61.0 million in the prior year period. Expenditures associated with our start-up chromite operations were $7.9 million and $8.2 million in the 2012 and 2011 periods, respectively. In the current year, the majority of our capital spending occurred in our Energy Services and Performance Materials segments.
Dividends for 2012 increased 3.4% over the prior year period. Our dividend rate increased 11.1% to $0.20 per share in the current quarter as compared to $0.18 in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Announcement of Restatements
On January 23, 2013, AMCOL's Audit Committee, upon the recommendation of AMCOL's management, determined that AMCOL's audited consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2009, December 31, 2010, December 31, 2011 and the unaudited consolidated financial statements for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 need to be restated as a result of certain adjustments and should no longer be relied upon. AMCOL's Form 10-K for the 2012 fiscal year, when filed, will reflect certain immaterial adjustments relating to the Supplemental Errors in AMCOL's 2012 second and third quarter results.
In January 2013, during the course of preparing to announce our 2012 fourth quarter earnings, we discovered certain errors in our previously issued financial statements related to our Construction Technologies segment's European operations (collectively, the "Supplemental Errors"). Note that in our Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2012, we reported errors relating to the Spanish operations of our Construction Technologies segment as well as other immaterial errors which were not previously corrected prior to the filing of that Form 10-Q (the "Initial Errors").
The following chart below reflects the extent to which the Supplemental Errors and the Initial Errors increase or (decrease) net income available to AMCOL shareholders (in millions) in each of the relevant periods:
2009 2010 2011 Q1 2012Initial errors $(1.6) $(1.4) $0.5 $1.1Supplemental errors - $(0.3) $(1.5) $0.2 --------------------------------------- $(1.6) $(1.7) $(1.0) $1.3 =======================================
In connection with the issues described above, we reevaluated the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting for the year ended December 31, 2011 and for the three months ending March 31, 2012. As of December 31, 2011 and March 31, 2012, we have concluded that we had a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting relating to the European operations of the Construction Technologies segment. We will report this material weakness and our plans for remediation in the amended Forms 10-K and 10-Q. We are in the process of reassessing our evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures for the relevant periods.
