The overburden, which consist of sand, limestone and other materials is drilled and then stripped away by the draglines. The uncovered phosphate is usually loosened by ripping, drilling and then loaded into dump trucks for hauling to crushing and screening plants at the mine sites where the hard oversize material with a low grade phosphate content is removed and rejected. The phosphate ores are temporarily stockpiled on a linear storage according to their layer and the screened ores or mixture then conveyed to the mill site. Phosphogypsum is a by-product or tailings product of phosphate production into phosphoric acid. It is created when sulfuric acid is used with phosphate rock to produce phosphoric acid.
Phosphoric acid is used in the production of phosphatic fertilizers.
Because of other elements present in phosphates deposits such as uranium and cadmium, phosphogypsum typically contains radon and other radioactive materials and can be extremely hazardous.