construction work and installation of additional equipment are nearing completion marcona's output capa city will be enlarged by this program with the product mix upgraded to increase the production of pellets and fine grind concentrates by 700,000 tons and 2 million tons respectively per year 11 million of the total new investment cost is financed by a credit from the export-import bank of the united states the target date for completion of the expansion pro ject is june 1972 the waipipi iron sands project in new zealand in which marcona n.z company holds a 75 interest came into production with a small volume of shipments late in the year there was an operating loss for 1971 because the startup costs incurred were charged against revenues mining and concentration of the new zealand iron sands is accomplished by a combination of hydraulic dredging and magnetic and gravity separation units operating in tandem the resulting concentrates are drained and stockpiled for ship ment the concentrates are re-mixed with water and pumped through a pipeline for loading onto ocean carriers of special design moored to a singlepoint buoy in deep water off shore this procedure is an applica tion of the marconaflo concept originated and developed by mar cona technicians at the mount goldsworthy mine in western australia utah development company's one-third share of total iron ore shipments was 2.183 million tons approximately 8.5 above the 2 million tons shipped in 1970 pro duction costs increased due princi pally to increased stripping ratios rising wage rates and expense incurred in mineral exploration these factors combined with a change in the relative values of aus tralian and united states currencies reduced earnings below the levels achieved in 1970 site work and procurement of equipment are in progress to expand capacity of the mount goldsworthy project by 2 million tons annually in order to fulfill additional long-term iron ore sales contracts the new and previous contracts call for delivery of an aggregate of 8 million tons of iron ore each year starting in 1973 iron ore reserves available for mining by the mount goldsworthy co-venturers are increasing deposits estimated at 44 million tons of high grade ore known as the sentinel reserves and located near the shay gap and kennedy gap reserves already held by the mount golds worthy group are being acquired in addition all three members of the mount goldsworthy co-venture en tered into a new joint venture agree ment with other parties for the exploration of iron ore deposits in extensive areas of western australia with a view to their ultimate develop ment results of drilling of the principal deposit known as mccamey's monster have indicated the presence of significant reserves of good grade ore and detailed studies have been authorized by the joint venturers mccamey's iron associates to determine the feasi bility of bringing them into commer cial production uranium utah's lucky me mine and mill located in the gas hills area of wyoming began production of u3o8 uranium oxide in 1958 and has since been in continuous operation except for maintenance purposes the shirley basin project commenced as an underground mine in 1960 and was subsequently converted to solution mining in 1970 the solution mining operation was discontinued and uranium ore was produced from a new open pit and processed in a new mill erected at the site and activated early in the 1971 fiscal year 2,96 million pounds of u3o8 were shipped from the lucky me and shir ley basin mills during the year this total was 13.5 above the 2.61 million pounds shipped in 1970 when at shirley basin the solution mining operation was being phased out and ove iron-bearing sands in new zealand mined by hydraulic dredge foreground d passed through pipeline to floating ncentrator background for magnetic and vity separation low left marcona mining company's n with additions to its iron ore processing d beneficiation facilities in peru low right san juan voyager one of rcona's three 130,000 dwt combination n pedro california