Phosphate Miningi thneBone ValleyMark PetersonTampa Permits OfficeJanuary 14, 2011US Army Corps of EngineersBUILDING STRONG®JACKSONVILLE DISTRICTPhosphate History•River Pebble Phosphate was discovered alongthe Peace River in 1881.•Early mining was by hand using wheelbarrows,picks and shovels.•Mechanized excavation began between 1900and 1905 with steam shovels.•Draglines first utilized in the1920s and 1930s.•Technological advancements allowed miners tomove from the river-pebble to the land-pebble andhard-rock phosphates, and then to mining thefinergrained“phosphate matrix”-grainedphosphatematrix•Phosphate matrix occurs over a wide area ofwest-central Florida known as the “Bone Valley”.•In 1900 it took 3-4 years to mine 15 acres withi k d h l I th l d f th llpicks andshovels.Inthe earlydays ofthe smalldraglines, about 5 acres were mined in a year.•As draglines grew in size, companies were ableto mine 500-600 acres a year. Currently,draglines are able to mine 15 acres a month.Source:http://www.lakelandgov.net/library/oldspeccoll/fscsan/phos1a.htmBUILDING STRONG®gBUILDING STRONG®Source:www.baysoundings.comCentral Florida Phosphate Region“Bone Valley”• Geologist named the Florida phosphate reserve “Bone Valley”.• The Central Florida Phosphate Region consists of Hillsborough,Polk Hardee DeSoto and Manatee CountiesPolk,Hardee,DeSotoandManateeCounties.• Watersheds include the Alafia River Watershed, the PeaceRiver Watershed, the Manatee River Watershed, the LittleManatee River Watershed and the Myakka River WatershedManateeRiverWatershedandtheMyakkaRiverWatershed.• Current Phosphate mining companies: Mosaic and CFIndustries.O i h d id f B V ll i H il•One minehas operatedoutside ofBoneValleyinHamiltonCounty in North Florida.BUILDING STRONG®Central Florida Phosphate RegionBUILDING STRONG®“Bone Valley”AlafiaLittle ManateeManateePeaceMyakkaBUILDING STRONG®Major Rivers & WatershedsExisting Phosphate MinesBUILDING STRONG®ExistingPhosphateMinesSource: FDEP Bureau of Mining and Minerals Regulation2005 SFWMD Existing Phosphate Mine DataAB CDEFGHIJLKMNOPQRSTOBUILDING STRONG®U2005 SFWMD Existing Phosphate MineSpreadsheetBUILDING STRONG®Current Pending Phosphate Applications as of August 2010Current Pending MineApplicationsBUILDING STRONG®Pending Phosphate Applications with 2005 SFWMD Mine LayerBUILDING STRONG®Phosphate 101•Phosphate is a natural, non-renewable resource that is obtained by miningphosphate-containing minerals.•Florida's phosphate rock deposits arebelieved to have originated whenconditions in the seawater caused dissolved phosphorus to solidify and formthe sediment that is mined today. Sea life also played a big part in forming thesediment deposits.•Approximately 90 percent of the phosphate that is mined is used to producephosphate fertilizers. There are no substitutes for phosphorus in agriculture.•The United States produces the most phosphate in the world while MoroccoTheUnitedStatesproducesthemostphosphateintheworld,whileMoroccoand China rank second and third, respectively. Active mining is also occurringin Morocco, China, Russia, Tunisia, Jordan, Brazil, Israel, South Africa, Syriaand Togo.•U S Phosphate reserves found in Central Florida North Carolina Utah andU.S.PhosphatereservesfoundinCentralFlorida,NorthCarolina,UtahandIdaho.•Florida is presently providing approximately 75 percent of the nation’s supplyof phosphate fertilizer and about 25percent of the world supply.BUILDING STRONG®Phosphate 102•Florida's typical phosphate ore (matrix) isfound about 15-50 feet below theearth's surface and is about 10-20feet thick.•Phosphate rock is mined and thenmanufactured through the fertilizermanufacturedthroughthefertilizermanufacturing process.•A typical Florida phosphate minegets about 9,000 tons of phosphaterock per acre of land.•By 1999 approximately 300 000 acres ofSource:http://www.baysoundings.com/sum05/pBy1999,approximately300,000acresofland, or more than 460 square miles, (out ofFlorida’s total land area of 54,000 squaremiles) had been mined in Florida .S Fl id I i f Ph hhosphate4.htmlBUILDING STRONG®Source:FloridaInstitute ofPhosphateResearch (FIPR)MiningProcess•After land clearing activities, the dragline bucket scoops the top 15-30 feet of earth know as“overburden”.•The dragline then digs out the matrix, which consists of equal parts of phosphate rock, clayand sandgandsand.•Matrix is then dumped in a pit where high-pressure water guns create a slurry that can thenbe pumped to the beneficiation plant, which canbe up to 10 miles away. At the beneficiationplant the phosphate is separated from the sand and clay.•The Clay by product is stored in clay settling areas and the Sand is reused for reclamation.BUILDING STRONG®Source: http://www.fipr.state.fl.us/ar99/miningpop3.jpgClaySettlingAreas• Clay is part of the matrix that phosphate companies mine. Thematrix contains roughly equal parts of clay sand andfluorapatiteay gmatrixcontainsroughlyequalpartsofclay,sandandfluorapatite,aphosphate mineral.•Atypical Florida phosphate mining operation pumps more thantypicalFloridaphosphateminingoperationpumpsmorethan100,000 gallons of water carrying tiny particles of clay every minutein the mining process.• The phosphate industry leaves about 40% of the land it minesbehind in clay settling areas.BUILDING STRONG®Phosphogypsum•Phosphogypsum is a by-product of the chemical reactioncalled the "wet process " whereby sulfuric acid is reacted withcalledthe"wetprocess,"wherebysulfuricacidisreactedwithphosphate rock to produce the phosphoric acid needed forfertilizer production.•Phosphate rock becomes associated with thephosphogypsum after the rock is reacted with sulfuric acid.•There are currently about 1 billion tons of phosphogypsumstacked in 25 stacks in Florida (22 are in central Florida) andabout 30 million new tons are generated each year.BUILDING STRONG®“Gypsum Stack”Source: http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/images/tenorm/stack-side.jpgBUILDING STRONG®ReclamationTh St t f Fl id d t d th t ll l d i d ft J l 1•TheState ofFlorida mandatedthatalllandminedafterJuly1,1975 must be reclaimed.•Phosphate permitting and reclamation is reviewed by the FloridaPhosphatepermittingandreclamationisreviewedbytheFloridaDepartment of Environmental Protection Bureau of MiningReclamation.•Reclamation consists of both upland and wetland restoration.•Accordingto the Florida Institute of Phosphate Research,thep,Phosphate Industry has indicated that 41% (28,248 acres) of post1975 mined land have been reclaimed.BUILDING STRONG®Corps RegulationTh U S A C f E i b l ti th•TheU.S.ArmyCorps ofEngineersbegan regulatingthedischarge of dredged or fill material inwaters of the U.S. (includingwetlands) on July 1, 1977, the effective date of Phase III of theClean Water Act (Section 404 Clean Water Act of 1977)CleanWaterAct.(Section404,CleanWaterActof1977)•A wetland is an area that is inundated or saturated at a durationsufficient to support and that under normal circumstances supportssufficienttosupportandthatundernormalcircumstancessupportsa prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturatedsoil conditions.BUILDING STRONG®Permit Decision Making•404(b)(1) GuidelinesPermitDecisionMaking•Public Interest ReviewN ti l E i t l P li A t (NEPA•NationalEnvironmentalPolicyAct(NEPA•Other Applicable Federal Laws (E.G. ESA, NHPA, EFH)•State & Territorial Certifications (CZM, WQC)BUILDING STRONG®Permit Decision Making(cont )•Project PurposePermitDecisionMaking(cont.)ProjectPurposeSequential Process:AvoidanceMinimizationC tiMiti tiompensation–Mitigation•Corps Determines Least EnvironmentallyDamaging Practicable AlternativeDamagingPracticableAlternative•Corps Reviews Mitigation Proposal (No NetLoss of Wetland acreage and function)LossofWetlandacreageandfunction)BUILDING STRONG®Wetland Mitigation SitesWetlandMitigationSitesBUILDING STRONG®Mitigation WetlandsMitigationWetlandsWetland HWetland D-DBUILDING STRONG®Additional InformationAdditionalInformationFlorida Institute of Phosphate Research (FIPR)http://fipr1.state.fl.us/PhosphatePrimer/0/C0E6FF4202BB60D685256F77005D2847Florida DEP Mining and Minerals Regulationhttp://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/mines/Watershed Datahttp://www.protectingourwater.org/watersheds/map/sarasota_bay peace myakka/peace/_p_pPeace River Cumulative Impact Studyhttp://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/mines/pr_cis-final.htmU.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Jacksonville Districthttp://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Divisions/Regulatory/index.htmBUILDING STRONG®