Print8.5.2: MOSAIC Florida Phosphate Operations
I suggest that you go to Mosaic’s website to learn more about the company. Doing so, you will arrive at this "Who We Are" page, and you will note that Mosaic is not only a major producer of phosphate but also of potash!
Their Florida operations are located in five counties of southwest Florida, as shown on this map. This is a rural area of Florida.
Resource
The phosphate rock deposit consists of a matrix of phosphate pebbles, clays, and sand, along with other gangue such as silica. (Carbonates occur in increasing amounts in the lower quality deposits.)
Key Characteristics
- The matrix is relatively unconsolidated and is typically on the order of 10’ thick.
- It is covered by an average overburden thickness of 30’ ranging from 15’ to 50’.
- The overburden is unconsolidated sand and organic matter.
- The matrix is underlain by a hard limestone.
- The water table is near the surface throughout the region.
Given these key characteristics, you should be able to choose the mining method. Can you do so? Well, at the beginning of the lesson, I told you that they employed the open cast method. Nonetheless, I would hope that you could come to that conclusion on your own. The use of hydraulicking, on the other hand, would not be apparent to you.
Let me tell you the overall sequence of operations to remove any mystery!
- Prepare the site for mining
- dozers
- Install utilities
- electric power
- water drainage
- “Pitsrdquo; for breaking down the matrix with monitors
- slurry pumps and pipelines
- Remove overburden
- dragline
- Mine the ore
- dragline
- Prepare for the ore for hydraulic transport to the plant
- hydraulic monitoring to break-up matrix
- Backfill the cut
- dragline
- Reclaim the site
- sand tailings pumped to the site
- level spoil piles and grade
- dozers
- loaders
- hydraulic excavators
- add top layers
- revegetate
We’ll take a look at many of these in more detail; but now, let’s start with an aerial view of the mine.