coking coal coking coal operating and earnings results set new records in 1976 but any chroni cling of the successes achieved during the year by 89.2%-owned utah development company must give emphasis to a series of actions which it is believed should en hance the company's long-term prospects included among the latter are agreements reached with various government authori ties designed to encourage the develop ment of norwich park which would be come utah's fifth coking coal mine in queensland australia the improved long-term outlook for utah's coking coal activities to a large extent is attributable to australian govern ment policy changes that will have a posi tive impact on mining companies operat ing in that country utah development company which paid export duties of more than 95 million during 1976 will benefit by the government's action to phase out this duty enacted during 1975 by the pre vious government the duty of a6 per tonne metric ton was reduced to sa4.50 per tonne in august and the announced intention of the australian government is to phase out the balance over a three-year period we interpret this favorable shift in policy as a desire on the part of the austra lian government to encourage develop ment of new mining projects increase the competitiveness of its coking coals in the world market and enhance prospects for foreign investment in australia two major developments during the year were related directly to utah's plans for the development of the norwich park mine the first contingent upon a go-ahead for the project involved an increased authori zation from the state of queensland in the total amount of coking coal utah can ex port from its properties there and the sec ond outlined a program formulated by utah development company and mitsu bishi development pty ltd to increase australian participation in most of utah's coking coal operations in june the state of queensland agreed to increase from approximately 305 mil lion tonnes to approximately 457 million tonnes the amount of coking coal which can be exported from the areas leased by central queensland coal associates cqca the latter is the joint venture presently 85 owned by utah develop ment company and 15 owned by mitsu bishi development pty ltd which owns the goonyella peak downs and saraji coking coal mines supporting facilities and the proposed norwich park mine the state also has agreed that an additional 1 02 million tonnes of coal can be exported provided it is mined from depths greater than 200 feet still additional exports will be permitted if australian ownership of cqca is increased at some future date beyond the levels expected to be achieved as a result of the proposed norwich park development the program developed to increase au stralian participation was announced in july under the terms of its provisions | australian mutual provident society and publicly owned utah mining australia lim ited will become 7.75 and 4.00 joint venture partners in cqca respectively this direct 11.75 interest together with the indirect interest resulting from utah mining australia limited's continuing 10.8 stock ownership in utah develop ment company will more than double au stralian equity participation in cqca from present participation of 9.2 to approxi mately 20 following consummation of the sale utah development company will have a 76.25 ownership interest in cqca the fiscal 1976 operating record was highlighted by total coking coal shipments of 15.5 million tonnes an amount 17 greater than the highest figure for any prior year the gain is all the more notable be cause it was achieved while coking coal consumers — primarily the steel mills of the world — were suffering from recession ary pressures with their coking coal stock piles at or near maximum levels customer acceptance of utah's coking coal during such a difficult year is a tribute to the soundness of the company's long-term sales agreements and to its excellent rela tionships with established customers earnings also benefited from a higher average price per tonne than that achieved in 1975 however following the significant extra-contractual increases attained by utah during 1974 and 1975 prices leveled during 1976 as a result of the reduced re quirements of world steel mills the 171/a australian dollar devalua tion announced on november 28 1976 had no effect upon fiscal 1976 earnings nor is it expected that on balance the de valuation will have a material effect upon utah's operations in future years operat ing expenses in australia are now lower in u.s dollar terms because of the devalua tion but generally these savings are being passed along to customers in the form of lower coal prices under the currency ad justment provisions included in the com pany's u.s dollar-priced contracts utah's hay point port facility is designed to load simultaneously two ships of the 100,000-deadweight ton class in june hay point set a record tor the largest single coking coal shipment in history with a delivery of 135,007 tonnes of coal