mining includes above thi new zealand iron ore a massive new project in mid-1977 utah's mining operations are expected to cross an important new threshold that is when the first shipments are scheduled to be made from samarco mineragao in brazil samarco is a joint venture with utah's wholly-owned brazilian subsidiary mineragaomarexltda owning utah's 49 samarco is a massive project it will tap the enormous reserves of 53 average-grade iron ore existing at germano 250 miles from the atlantic ocean in the state of minas gerais to achieve a higher-grade material for export samarco will concentrate its ore at the mine then it will pump the mixture of concentrate and water through a 20-inch-diameter 250-mile-long pipeline to ponta ubu on the coast there the water will be removed five million tons per year of the mine's output will be converted to iron ore pellets which will be sold to steel mills in the united states and europe discus sions are proceeding with prospective buyers of an additional two million tons of filtered concentrates concessions and reserves at the germano site assure a supply of at least 300 million metric tons of iron ore concentrates development of the samarco project offers another important prospect it enables utah to extend its operations into a country with vast mineral resources as well as a policy to encourage busi nesses that can provide capital and expertise to participate in the nation's economic development utah directly orthrough investments has interests in three other iron-ore projects in the u.s australia and new zealand • the iron springs mine is located near cedar city utah acquired in 1946 it is the oldest of utah's existing mines iron springs uses conventional open-pit methods but a unique traveling magnetic concentrator also makes possible the mining of low-grade alluvial deposits another mine nearby is operated by utah for a major steel producer • in western australia utah development company holds a one third interest in mount goldsworthy mining associates involved in operating and developing iron ore properties the initial venture included construction of the mount goldsworthy mine crushing and shiploading facilities at port hedland and a 71 mile railroad to link the two installations following the first shipments in 1 966 the operations have been expanded on several occasions further expansion will depend on studies being made to determine the technical and economic feasibility of mining the deposits known as mining area c • in new zealand marcona corporation which is46%-owned by utah has a 75 interest in a company that utilizes a dredging operation to mine ore-bearing coastal sands after the sands are refined the concentrate as a slurry is pumped from the coastal facility to specially equipped ships a recently completed expansion project is expected to increase production capacity to approxi mately two million dry long tons of iron concentrate annually a favorable development in 1 976 was the agreement of the gov ernment of peru to compensate marcona corporation for the com pany's peruvian iron ore mining assets expropriated in july 1 975 negotiations between u.s and peruvian government representa tives resulted in an intergovernmental agreement reached on september 23 providing for a 37 million payment to marcona in the form of an interest-bearing promissory note to be paid from the proceeds of international financing being negotiated by the peruvian government in addition the agreement provides for compensation valued by the peruvian government at 24 million resulting from a quantity of iron ore pellets to be purchased by marcona under a separate agreement for resale in the united states at port h coast a ship-loading te been built to handle iroi mount goldsworthy min