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SOCIOECONOMICS <br />National King Coal, Inc., has a strong local hiring policy. Management <br />feels that local people are more stable and dependable; therefore more <br />likely to stay with the mine than imported labor. For these reasons <br />they prefer to train local people to meet their needs. <br />The mine supplies coal for residential heating to local customers who <br />pick it up in their own trucks or have it delivered to their homes. <br />This is important to the area because very few mines in other areas <br />produce or sell lump and stoker coal. <br />Coal from the mine is used to power two narrow gauge tourist trains--one <br />in Colorado and one in New Mexico. Both trains are extremely important <br />to the tourist industry of the region. <br />The total emplo went of the Ki~~~t1inP is rurran~y O~peoole. It <br />as been as high as 60 people but economic conditions have required <br />reductions. In 1978 there were 115 persons employed in mining in La Plata <br />County. The employment by National King Coal is significant because <br />almost half of the employment in the mining sector is attributed to King <br />Coal. The total employment due to mining was one percent of the total <br />employment in the county which was 11,220 persons in 1978. King Coal <br />employment (0.5';) is relatively insignificant when cam pared to the total <br />employment in the county. However, because King Coal employs about half <br />• of the total mining sector employment, and is one of the largest single <br />employers in La Plata County, it is economically important. <br />In addition to the people •actually employed at the mine, there are <br />approximately 20 people employed in transporting the coal. Since there <br />are no railroads serving the area, trucking is the only method of trans- <br />porting the coal to its markets in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. <br />Timbers used in the mine are obtained locally and rock dust is obtained <br />from eastern Colorado. A small number of people would be employed in <br />supplying these products. <br />In 1980 the King Coal Mine will pay approximately 51,003,000 in salaries <br />to its employees. In 1978 mining provided 52,458,000, or 2.3 percent, <br />of the total county personal income of 5105,955,000. This means that in <br />1978 the one percent of the counties workers that are employed in mining <br />earned more than 2 percent of the personal income in the the county, <br />indicating that miners earn relatively higher salaries than people <br />employed in other sectors. • <br />The King Coal Mine pays substantial amounts in federal, state, and local <br />taxes. If 1980 production continue s. at the same rate as during the <br />,first six months of the year, the mine would pay 5180,000 in workmens <br />compensation; $95,000 in federal royalties; b39,000 in reclamation <br /> <br />11 <br />