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Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

INCOME TAXES

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INCOME TAXES
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2016
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract] Ìý
Income Taxes
NOTE 9 - INCOME TAXES
Our 2016 estimated annual effective tax rate before discrete items is approximately 6.8 percent. The annual effective tax rate differs from the U.S. statutory rate of 35 percent primarily due to deductions for percentage depletion in excess of cost depletion related to U.S. operations and the placement of valuation allowances against deferred tax assets generated in the current year. A comparable annual effective tax rate has not been provided for the three months ended 2015 as our loss for the three months ended March 31, 2015 exceeded the anticipated ordinary loss for the full year and, therefore, our tax expense recorded was calculated using actual year-to-date amounts rather than an estimated annual effective tax rate.
There were discrete items booked in the first quarter of 2016 of approximately $0.2 million. These adjustments relate primarily to quarterly interest accrued on reserves for uncertain tax positions. There were discrete items booked in the first three months of 2015 of approximately $167.5 million. These items were largely related to the recording of valuation allowances against existing deferred tax assets as a result of the determination that these would no longer be realizable.