The mines require no significant services from the counties in which they operate. At current rates of production, IMC-Agrico has enough phosphate reserves in Florida to last about 40 years. There is additional phosphate in Florida, but we believe it may not be economically recoverable because of encroachment by development. There are phosphate deposits elsewhere in the world which will be developed as economics allow, and they are large enough to last for hundreds of years. There is no known substitute for phosphorus, an element essential to energy conversion in both plants and animals.
Major reserves exist in, among other places, North Africa and China.
They have not all been discovered, so there is no way to know how long they will last. Known deposits are sufficient to last for several hundred years. When rainfall exceeds the holding capacity of the mine's recirculation system, it is necessary that the mines discharge the excess stormwater into the stream which drains the watershed. Because both proposed mines lie in the Horse Creek watershed, the receiving stream is Horse Creek. There were two dam failures in late 1994.