coking coal coking coal or metallurgical coal is a product characterized by special quali ties suitable for use in the steel making process utah's interests in coking coal operations are represented by a 90 ownership in utah development company an enterprise operating in australia the remaining ownership of utah develop ment is held by australians as a result of a public offering in 1970 utah development currently operates three coking coa mines in the bowen basin of central queensland with another mine scheduled to commence shipments early in the 1975 fiscal year blackwater the first of the existing mines is wholly owned by utah development while newer mines at goonyella peak downs and saraji are 85%-owned by utah develop ment with the balance held by japanese interests blackwater which commenced ship ments in 1968 was originally developed with a relatively modest capital outlay in order to satisfy a requirement to deliver 1.5 million tons annually to the japanese steel industry later sales arrangements justified expansions of the mine facilities at blackwater and the installation of additional rail and port capacity in 1973 shipments from blackwater were at a record high of 3.3 million long tons up from 3.0 million in the previous year recent expansions of mine and shipping facilities are expected to allow future output of the blackwater operation to exceed 1973 levels in 1969 when sales contracts were concluded for the annual delivery of an additional 7.0 million tons of coking coal to japanese buyers utah development commenced a program to build two new mines to be located at goonyella and peak downs in addition to the investment in mining equipment and processing plants it was necessary to provide new port and railroad facilities as well as a new town including the significant cost of this infrastructure utah development's share of the total cost of the project was in excess of 200 million still the largest venture in which utah has participated the capacity of goonyella was anticipated at four million tons per year with the entire output dedicated to contractual commit ments with the japanese steel industry first shipments occurred late in 1971 and the first full year of production was 1 972 when deliveries rose to 3.75 million long tons output in 1973 climbed to nearly 5.0 million tons which exceeded the require ments of the earlier contracts and allowed shipments of 600,000 tons to european customers and 120,000 tons to australian receivers during the year under short term arrangements the development of peak downs followed that at goonyella by approxi mately one year as first shipments took place in mid-1972 design capacity of peak downs is five million tons per year of which three million is committed under the original sales contracts subsequent sales arrangements finalized in 1972 have resulted in an additional annual commit ment of about 1.5 million tons of peak downs coal for european steel producers in 1973 the first full year of operations sales reached 3.1 million tons of which 1.6 million tons were delivered to europe and 1.5 million tons to japan the sales negotiations of 1972 de veloped sufficient new business with japanese and european buyers to justify the construction of a new mine at saraji this program was underway throughout 1973 and it is anticipated that first deliv eries will be made on schedule in 1975 rising capital costs and revaluations of the australian currency will combine to lift utah's share of the estimated capital requirement for this 4.5 million ton per year mine to nearly 170 million utah development has under con sideration the development of a fifth coking coal mine to be located at norwich park situated some 30 miles south of saraji this mine would be in a position to share some of the facilities now being constructed for the saraji project with uncertainties created by the attitude of at the blackwater goonyella and peak downs mines massive draglines perform the initial step in the mining process by removing overburden to expose the underlying coal seams while the quality of mined coal is improved at processing facilities following delivery via rail cars to the port coking coal is stockpiled to await shipment