Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

9. Income Taxes

The Company has estimated that its effective income tax rate for 2012 will be approximately 27.0%.  As in prior periods, the primary reason for the effective rate being below the federal statutory rate is due to statutory depletion, which is allowed for income tax purposes and is a permanent difference between net income for financial reporting purposes and taxable income.