views of the launching of the s.s harvey s mudd at yokohama japan in early december 1955 this is one of two sister 31,400 d.w.t ore and owned by our affiliate san juan carriers ltd these ships properties in peru to principal u s atlantic ports the ships will be powered y 12,500 s.h.p westinghouse have a 1 6 2 knot trial speed and a 1 4v2 knot service speed loaded length 655 feet overall beam 87 feet draft 34 feet eft near the campbell our wholly owned subsidiary utah co of the americas is stripping operations at its argonaut iron hill mine after milling the ore is sold for sxporf prii othe left at its ozark-philpotf cool construction company 18-yard electric shovel is stripping overburden from a cool seam coal mined from this stripping more than 80 per cent of the beneficial stock of three companies that are concerned with the mining sales and shipment of peruvian iron ore for these companies the year 1955 was one of transition from the opening of the mine in 1953 until the beginning of 1955 the entire output had been sold to one user under a long-term contract expiring december 31 1954 and all ocean shipments were made in chartered vessels during 1955 great progress was made in obtaining a sound long range basis of oper ations by october 1955 marcona ore was being shipped to users in the united states and germany under 19 sales contracts and the ore was in increasing demand plans were initiated to attain lower ocean freight costs and to gain freedom from the violent fluctuations in shipping costs that characterize the charter market during 1955 marcona mining company made further progress in extending its reserves reducing its mining costs and completing construc tion of additional housing for its personnel schools for the children and the installation of a seawater distillation plant during the year the com pany retired all of its outstanding first preferred stock and 1,000,000 of its second preferred stock leaving outstanding 5,000,000 of second pre ferred stock of which utah construction company holds one-half pre ferred dividends were paid currently and a common dividend of 3.00 a share was declared during the year while the profits were depressed in 1955 by reduced shipments and lower realizations during the early months of the year net income was restored to more normal levels by the close of the year the outlook for 1956 appears favorable with the availability of shipping the limiting factor on production and sales volume cia san juan s a which handles the sales and shipment of marcona ore took two important steps to attain shipping economies and greater control over shipping costs through its wholly owned subsidiary san juan carriers ltd orders were placed for the purchase of two large spe cialized ore carriers which are being constructed in japanese shipyards and will go into service in 1956 also arrangements were made for long term charters for additional large ore carriers to carry marcona ore as a result the cost of ocean shipping should be reduced in 1956 and subse quent years pima mining company in august 1955 utah construction company acquired a 25 per cent interest in the pima mining company union oil company of california also holds a 25 per cent interest and the balance of the stock is held by cyprus mines corporation the pima mining company controls a cop per deposit near tucson arizona which it plans to develop as rapidly as possible as an open-pit mine utah construction company has been se lected to construct the mill and to perform the preliminary stripping required to bring the mine into operation utah construction company also performed under contract certain engineering and geological studies evaluating the property from all appearances the nature of the deposit and the market outlook for copper indicate that pima mining company will be a profitable venture lucky me uranium corporation utah construction company entered into an agreement giving it an option under certain terms and conditions to acquire 60 per cent of the capital stock of lucky me uranium corporation a corporation control ling certain lands in wyoming that give favorable indications of contain ing extensive quantities of low grade uranium susceptible to open pit min ing methods studies are under way to determine more accurately the na ture and the extent of the uranium ore deposit the metallurgical treatment required to treat the ore properly and designing of a mill and other mat ters which will determine the likelihood of developing this property as a profitable mining operation this work has not progressed sufficiently far at this time to allow us to reach any definite conclusions general your company also engaged actively in exploration and development of other prospective mineral properties and options were acquired on certain lands containing favorable indications for coal uranium and iron ore additional development work must be performed before the nature and extent of these properties can be accurately evaluated