company to display an active inter est utah together with cyprus mines corporation formed mar cona mining company to finance the venture while at the same time seeking sales contracts lor the fu ture production of the mining oper ation this step-by-step approach to mining developments — obtain ing a prior commitment for a mar ket outlet to improve the financing capability — became a characteris tic utah pattern in 1956 utah through a 25 interest joined cyprus mines cor poration and union oil company of california in the development of cyprus pima mining company a copper mine and milling operation near tucson arizona pima's ore processing facility was engineered and constructed by utah in the following year utah nego tiated a long-term lease with the navajo tribe for steam coal mining in new mexico in 1963 what is now one of the largest coal mines in the united states was established to fuel the four corners power plant which is adjacent to the mine site this facility is an important source of electricity for the south western united states another early step in utah's growing commitment to mining was utah's participation with the wyo ming uranium prospectors who formed the original lucky me ura nium corporation the venture which began in 1957 and gave the company a strategic position in the nuclear industry offered further testimony to utah's foresight when lucky me merged with utah in 1 960 the company acquired the balance of this highly successful uranium mining and milling operation shir ley basin a second uranium reserve in wyoming was acquired in the late 1950's the development of that operation has doubled utah's pro duction capabilities an early appreciation of the po tential of the japanese market for iron ore and coking coal led to utah's participation in the one-third owned mount goldsworthy iron ore venture and to the development of metallurgical coal mines in the bowen basin of central queens land coking coal was known to exist in that area and indeed 100,000 tons had been extracted from small independent mines pri or to 1935 yet no significant explo ration activities preceded utah's efforts in the early 1960's when the 7 lett above siphons constructed in the late 1940's connect canals to the world's largest irrigation system in the columbia river basin right fulfilling a contract with aus tralia's snowy mountains hydro electric authority utah completed the curved concrete island bend dam in 1965 42 center and above the blumiphol concrete dam tunnels and dydroelectric plant built in thailand were completed in 1963