personnel data processing the management supervisory and admin istrative group in the company consists of approximately 600 salaried employees and much of the success of the company can be attributed to the high caliber of its personnel the number of individuals em ployed in all of the company's activities totals 1,800 exclusive of the affiliates em ployees and form the work force for min ing operations in wyoming utah new mexico british columbia canada queensland australia and western aus tralia dredging activities in australia and the western united states and land de velopment which is primarily in california hourly employees of the company are covered by contracts negotiated between the company and the respective unions or by employer associations in the case of certain dredging projects the normal benefits applicable in the united states or foreign countries are generally provided in all the agreements regular clerical office administrative professional and executive employees in cluding officers participate in a company established retirement fund based on profit sharing provided they meet certain eligibility requirements contributions to the fund by the company equal 15 of the gross compensation earned by mem bers of the plan during the year or a lesser amount determined by a formula based on net income group insurance for employees and families of the employees under certain conditions disability bene fits sick leave and vacations are provided primarily at company cost with nominal contribution by the employees the rapid accurate processing of raw data into timely reports for interpretation and analysis is essential to the manage ment and operation of a successful busi ness today utah's computer service cen ter gauges its performance on the actual compliance with this objective of provid ing the necessary information to the com pany's managers on schedule the services performed by the center include the preparation of payrolls pay ment of current invoices maintenance of accounting ledgers furnishing financial and cost statements and cost analysis re ports for most of the domestic activities with source data transmitted from the op erations by magnetic tape paper tape data phone or direct mail in addition mineral reserves are calcu lated in the various properties by evalu ating the extensive data resulting from test drilling programs reports are prepared which provide studies covering heavy min ing equipment operations actual produc tion data is summarized and evaluated proposed land development programs are quickly simulated over long periods in the future providing management with the ma terial needed to consider alternate plans stockholder and bondholder records and company asset details are maintained and an employee information system supports the personnel management needs of our company another important service to the com pany is the preparation of long-term pro jections of earnings and cash flow on our present activities and proposed new projects