Bethesda Mining is a midsized coal mining company with 20 mines located in Ohio,

Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky. The company operates deep mines as well as strip

mines. Most of the coal mined is sold under contract, with excess production sold on the spot

market.

The coal mining industry, especially high-sulfur coal operations such as Bethesda, has

been hard-hit by environmental regulations. Recently, however, a combination of increased

demand for coal and new pollution reduction technologies has led to an improved market

demand for high-sulfur coal. Bethesda has just been approached by Mid-Ohio Electric

Company with a request to supply coal for its electric generators for the next four years.

Bethesda Mining does not have enough excess capacity at its existing mines to guarantee the

contract. The company is considering opening a strip mine in Ohio on 5,000 acres of land

purchased 10 years ago for $4 million. Based on a recent appraisal, the company feels it

could receive $6.5 million on an aftertax basis if it sold the land today.

Strip mining is a process where the layers of topsoil above a coal vein are removed and

the exposed coal is removed. Some time ago, the company would simply remove the coal and

leave the land in an unusable condition. Changes in mining regulations now force a company

to reclaim the land; that is, when the mining is completed, the land must be restored to near

its original condition. The land can then be used for other purposes. Because it is currently

operating at full capacity, Bethesda will need to purchase additional necessary equipment,

which will cost $95 million. The equipment will be depreciated on a seven-year MACRS

schedule. The contract runs for only four years. At that time the coal from the site will be

entirely mined. The company feels that the equipment can be sold for 60 percent of its initial

purchase price in four years. However, Bethesda plans to open another strip mine at that time

and will use the equipment at the new mine.

The contract calls for the delivery of 500,000 tons of coal per year at a price of $86 per ton.

Bethesda Mining feels that coal production will be 620,000 tons, 680,000 tons, 730,000 tons,

and 590,000 tons, respectively, over the next four years. The excess production will be sold in

the spot market at an average of $77 per ton. Variable costs amount to $31 per ton, and fixed

costs are $4,100,000 per year. The mine will require a net working capital investment of 5

percent of sales. The NWC will be built up in the year prior to the sales.

Bethesda will be responsible for reclaiming the land at termination of the mining. This will

occur in Year 5. The company uses an outside company for reclamation of all the company’s

strip mines. It is estimated the cost of reclamation will be $2.7 million. In order to get the

necessary permits for the strip mine, the company agreed to donate the land after reclamation

to the state for use as a public park and recreation area. This will occur in Year 6 and result

in a charitable expense deduction of $6 million. Bethesda faces a 38 percent tax rate and has

a 12 percent required return on new strip mine projects. Assume that a loss in any year will

result in a tax credit.

You have been approached by the president of the company with a request to analyze

the project. Calculate the payback period, profitability index, net present value, and internal

rate of return for the new strip mine. Should Bethesda Mining take the contract and open

the mine?

BETHESDA MINING COMPANY
Bethesda Mining is a midsized coal mining company with 20 mines located in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia,
and Kentucky. The company operates deep mines as well as strip mines. Most of the coal mined is sold under
contract, with excess production sold on the spot market.
The coal mining industry, especially high-sulfur coal operations such as Bethesda, has been hard-hit by
environmental regulations. Recently, however, a combination of increased demand for coal and new pollution
reduction technologies has led to an improved market demand for high-sulfur coal. Bethesda has just been approached by Mid-Ohio Electric Company with a request to supply coal for its electric generators for the next
four years. Bethesda Mining does not have enough excess capacity at its existing mines to guarantee the
contract. The company is considering opening a strip mine in Ohio on 5,000 acres of land purchased 10 years
ago for $5.4 million. Based on a recent appraisal, the company feels it could receive $7.3 million on an aftertax
basis if it sold the land today.
Strip mining is a process where the layers of topsoil above a coal vein are removed and the exposed coal
is removed. Some time ago, the company would simply remove the coal and leave the land in an unusable
condition. Changes in mining regulations now force a company to reclaim the land; that is, when the mining
is completed, the land must be restored to near its original condition. The land can then be used for other
purposes. As they are currently operating at full capacity, Bethesda will need to purchase additional equipment,
which will cost $49 million. The equipment will be depreciated on a seven-year MACRS schedule. The contract
only runs for four years. At that time the coal from the site will be entirely mined. The company feels that the
equipment can be sold for 60 percent of its initial purchase price. However, Bethesda plans to open another
strip mine at that time and will use the equipment at the new mine.
The contract calls for the delivery of 500,000 tons of coal per year at a price of $70 per ton. Bethesda Mining
feels that coal production will be 750,000 tons, 810,000 tons, 830,000 tons, and 720,000 tons, respectively,
over the next four years. The excess production will be sold in the spot market at an average of $64 per ton,
Variable costs amount to $29 per ton and fi xed costs are $4.2 million per year. The mine will require a net working
capital investment of 5 percent of sales. The NWC will be built up in the year prior to the sales.
Bethesda will be responsible for reclaiming the land at termination of the mining. This will occur in Year 5.
The company uses an outside company for reclamation of all the company’s strip mines. It is estimated the
cost of reclamation will be $3.9 million. After the land is reclaimed, the company plans to donate the land to the
state for use as a public park and recreation area as a condition to receive the necessary mining permits. This
will occur in Year 5 and result in a charitable expense deduction of $7.3 million. Bethesda faces a 38 percent
tax rate and has a 12 percent required return on new strip mine projects. Assume a loss in any year will result
in a tax credit.
You have been approached by the president of the company with a request to analyze the project. Calculate
the payback period, profi tablitity index, net present value, and internal rate of return for the new strip mine.
Should Bethesda Mining take the contract and open the mine?

BETHESDA MINING COMPANY

Bethesda Mining is a midsized coal mining company with 20 mines located in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky. The company operates deep mines as well as strip mines. Most of the coal mined is sold under contract, with excess production sold on the spot market.

The coal mining industry, especially high-sulfur coal operations such as Bethesda, has been hard-hit by environmental regulations. Recently, however, a combination of increased demand for coal and new pollution reduction technologies has led to an improved market demand for high-sulfur coal. Bethesda has just been approached by Mid-Ohio Electric Company with a request to supply coal for its electric generators for the next four years. Bethesda Mining does not have enough excess capacity at its existing mines to guarantee the contract. The company is considering opening a strip mine in Ohio on 5,000 acres of land purchased 10 years ago for $4 million. Based on a recent appraisal, the company feels it could receive $6.5 million on an aftertax basis if it sold the land today.

Strip mining is a process where the layers of topsoil above a coal vein are removed and the exposed coal is removed. Some time ago, the company would simply remove the coal and leave the land in an unusable condition. Changes in mining regulations now force a company to reclaim the land; that is, when the mining is completed, the land must be restored to near its original condition. The land can then be used for other purposes. Because it is currently operating at full capacity, Bethesda will need to purchase additional necessary equipment, which will cost $95 million. The equipment will be depreciated on a seven-year MACRS schedule. The contract runs for only four years. At that time the coal from the site will be entirely mined. The company feels that the equipment can be sold for 60 percent of its initial purchase price in four years. However, Bethesda plans to open another strip mine at that time and will use the equipment at the new mine.

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The contract calls for the delivery of 500,000 tons of coal per year at a price of $86 per ton. Bethesda Mining feels that coal production will be 620,000 tons, 680,000 tons, 730,000 tons, and 590,000 tons, respectively, over the next four years. The excess production will be sold in the spot market at an average of $77 per ton. Variable costs amount to $31 per ton, and fixed costs are $4,100,000 per year. The mine will require a net working capital investment of 5 percent of sales. The NWC will be built up in the year prior to the sales.

Bethesda will be responsible for reclaiming the land at termination of the mining. This will occur in Year 5. The company uses an outside company for reclamation of all the company’s strip mines. It is estimated the cost of reclamation will be $2.7 million. In order to get the necessary permits for the strip mine, the company agreed to donate the land after reclamation to the state for use as a public park and recreation area. This will occur in Year 6 and result in a charitable expense deduction of $6 million. Bethesda faces a 38 percent tax rate and has a 12 percent required return on new strip mine projects. Assume that a loss in any year will result in a tax credit.

QUESTION:

You have been approached by the president of the company with a request to analyze the project. Calculate the payback period, profitability index, net present value, and internal rate of return for the new strip mine. Should Bethesda Mining take the contract and open the mine?

Which of the following is an example of adverse possession?

B. Sally owned a one-acre lot next to a state park. She decided to donate the lot to the state in order to expand the park. Sally’s children claimed they had a right to the land, not the state.

C. In 2005, Megan fenced off a field belonging to Farmer Giles, put a new lock on the gate leading to the field, built a wooden shed, and grew vegetables on the land. After 10 years, Megan gained title to the land without paying Farmer Giles.

D. Bob needed a place to stay so he broke into an empty house and stayed there for nearly a month until the house owner asked the police to make Bob leave.

A. Years ago, your grandmother bought 10 acres of land, paid the property taxes, and left you the property in her will.

A landowner builds a nine-foot fence topped with barbed wire around his property to keep people out, and posts warning signs on the fence saying “DANGER: Barbed Wire.” A group of graduate students decides to go cow tipping on the landowner’s property. The students climb the fence in the night, and one student suffers injuries from the barbed wire. What duty of care does the landowner owe to the students?

D. No duty because the student trespassed onto the owner’s land

B. A duty not to intentionally injure and to warn about known defects on the property

A. A duty not to intentionally injure the student

C. A duty to inspect the property for defects, correct defects, and warn about defects

Marta places a large, pre-assembled plastic greenhouse in her backyard, with the steel frame bolted into concrete that she poured specially for that purpose. She attaches gas-heating ducts and builds a brick walkway around the greenhouse. Now the town wants to raise her real property taxes, claiming that her property has been improved. Marta argues that the greenhouse is not real property. Is it?

E. The greenhouse is an easement and is part of the real property.

C. The greenhouse cannot be part of the real property if Marta does not own the land.

B. The greenhouse is not part of the real property because it could be removed.

D. The greenhouse is a fixture and is part of the real property.

A. The greenhouse is not part of the real property because it was pre-assembled.

Humana Hospital Corporation installed a new MRI machine at a cost of $750,000 this year in its medical professional clinic in Cedar Park. This state-of-the-art system is expected to be used for 5 years and then sold for $125,000. Humana uses a return requirement of 25% per year for all of its medical diagnostic equipment. As a bioengineering student currently serving a coop semester on the management staff of Humana Hospital Corporation in Louisville, Kentucky, you are asked to determine the minimum revenue required each year to realize the expected recovery and return. In short, you need to estimate first the capitol recovery and then the annual worth.

You are looking into a factory to make strained peas. You estimate that the equipment will cost $50,000, which you would depreciate over the 10-year life of the project to a book value of zero. The salvage value of the equipment is zero. You think you can sell 15,000 cans at $2/can. The cost of producing the cans is $0.80 each. Your tax rate will be 40%. You plan to maintain an inventory equal to 25% of revenues and you can salvage 80% of this working capital at the end of the project’s life. You plan to use your garage, which means you will have to pay $2,000/year to park your car elsewhere (the good news is that the $2,000/year is tax-deductible). To estimate the cost of capital for the project you look at the following comparable firms:

r* = 0.17

What is the NPV?

The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco needs to replace its air conditioning system. There are two alternatives, both of which can do the job equally well:

The relevant discount rate is 10% and the marginal tax rate is 35%.

What is the operating cash flow for AC 1 per year?
What is the equivalent annual cost for AC 1 (in absolute terms)?
What is the operating cash flow for AC 2 per year?
What is the equivalent annual cost for AC 2 (in absolute terms)?

A hotel rental service needs to have clean towels for each day of a three-day period. Some of the clean towels may be purchased new and some may be dirty towels from previous days that have been washed by a laundry service. The cost of new towels is $1 per towel, the cost of a fast one-day laundry serice is 40¢ per towel, and the cost of a slow two-day laundry service is 25¢ per towel. If the rental service needs 300,200, and 400 clean towels for each of the next three days (respectively), how many towels should the rental service buy new and how many should the rental service have washed by the different laundry services so as to minimize total costs?

The solution is minC=570 at (x,y,z,w)=(400,100,200,200), please use hand-writing for the process.

The following transactions apply to Park Co. for 2016:

1. Received $50,000 cash from the issue of common stock.

2. Purchased inventory on account for $180,000.

3. Sold inventory for $250,000 cash that had cost $140,000. Sales tax was collected at the rate of 5 percent on the inventory sold.

4. Borrowed $50,000 from First State Bank on March 1, 2016. The note had a 7 percent interest rate and a one-year term to maturity.

5. Paid the accounts payable (see transaction 2).

6. Paid the sales tax due on $190,000 of sales. Sales tax on the other $60,000 is not due until after the end of the year.

7. Salaries for the year for the one employee amounted to $46,000. Assume the Social Security tax rate is 6 percent and the Medicare tax rate is 1.5 percent. Federal income tax withheld was $5,300.

8. Paid $5,800 for warranty repairs during the year.

9. Paid $36,000 of other operating expenses during the year.

10. Paid a dividend of $2,000 to the shareholders.

Adjustments:

11. The products sold in transaction 3 were warranted. Park estimated that the warranty cost would be 3 percent of sales.

12. Record the accrued interest at December 31, 2016.

13. Record the accrued payroll tax at December 31, 2016. Assume no payroll taxes have been paid for the year. Do NOT record any federal or state unemployment tax expense or liability.

Prepare an income statement, statement of changes in stockholders’ equity, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows for 2016.

Wilson and Sons Corp. has bought a prime parcel of beachfront property and plans to build a luxury hotel. After meeting with the architectural team, the Wilson family has drawn up some information to make preliminary plans for construction. Excluding the suites, which are not part of this decision, the hotel will have four kinds of rooms: beachfront non-smoking, beachfront smoking, lagoon view non-smoking, and lagoon view smoking. In order to decide how many of each of the four kinds of rooms to plan for, the Wilson family will consider the following information.

• After adjusting for expected occupancy, the average nightly revenue for a beachfront non-smoking room is $175. The average nightly revenue for a lagoon view non-smoking room is $130. Smokers will be charged an extra $15.
• Construction costs vary. The cost estimate for a lagoon view room is $12,000 and for a beachfront room is $15,000. Air purifying systems and additional smoke detectors and sprinklers add $3000 to the cost of any smoking room. Wilson and Sons Corp. has raised $6.3 million in construction guarantees for this portion of the building.
• There will be at least 100 but no more than 180 beachfront rooms.
• Design considerations require that the number of lagoon view rooms be at least 50% more than beachfront rooms but no more than 150% of beachfront rooms.
• Industry trends recommend that the number of non-smoking rooms be at least 50% more the number of smoking rooms.

Formulate a linear programming model to maximize revenue and solve in Excel.

Include in your answer the:

1. Model
2. Excel input
3. Answer report
4. Description of the optimal solution