Discovery of Phosphate in Florida. Some three decades after phosphate rock was first mined in England to be used in fertilizer, Dr. C. A. Simmons, who owned a rock quarry for …
Phosphate rock was discovered in central Florida in the 1880s, and because of the extensive, high-quality deposits and lower mining cost, it quickly became …
The waste is produced when phosphate rock is processed to make phosphoric acid by chemically reacting it with sulfuric acid. This acidic waste solution generally contains uranium, thorium and ...
It's the heart of — and only real city — in DeSoto County, a farming and ranching center that hearkens back to Old Florida. It's home to an historic downtown that got battered by Hurricane Charley in 2004, and Florida's largest rodeo, anchored in a building named for the very company that wants to dig the state's newest phosphate mine.
An acid solution is used to dissolve phosphate rock. The process takes naturally occurring uranium, thorium and radium and makes them more radioactive than their original state. Along the way, it ...
Much of Florida is built on porous rock, which makes it susceptible to sinkholes. In 2016, one opened up underneath a 120-foot tall phosphogypsum stack, sending contaminated water and waste...
Market cap: AU$98.2 million. Centrex Metals holds the Ardmore phosphate rock project in Queensland, which it says is one of the world's few remaining undeveloped high-grade phosphate rock deposits.
That's what's left over when phosphate rock is turned into fertilizer. More than 20 mountains of this material rise over rural areas in central and north Florida. And sometimes there are problems.
Phosphogypsum and the EPA Ban. Phosphogypsum is a by-product of the chemical reaction called the "wet process," whereby sulfuric acid is reacted with phosphate rock to produce the phosphoric acid needed for fertilizer production. There are approximately five tons of phosphogypsum produced for every ton of phosphoric acid produced.
Abstract. The land-pebble phosphate district is on the Gulf Coastal Plain of Florida. The phosphate deposits are in the Bone Valley formation, dated Pliocene by most writers. …
A typical Florida phosphate mine gets about 9,000 tons of phosphate rock per acre of land. Huge draglines are brought in and can remove the Florida earth from the surface down 100 feet in order to remove the entire matrix "field". The phosphate industry refers the removed earth as "overburden". The rest of us call it orange groves ...
synthetic fertilizers are made with phosphate rock, which is dug out from under the ground here in florida. alex benson is an attorney with the center for biological diversity, which advocated ...
The land-pebble phosphate district is on the Gulf Coastal Plain of Florida. The phosphate deposits are in the Bone Valley formation, dated Pliocene by most writers. These strata overlie the Miocene Hawthorn formation and are overlain by consolidated sands 3 to 20 feet thick. The minable phosphate deposits, called "matrix" in the district, range from a …
They unearth some 10 million tons of phosphate rock a year, supplying nearly a quarter of global demand for the "white gold" that helps crops grow. Florida is …
Phosphate rock is used to make phosphorous, one of the critical ingredients in fertilizer, and the raw mineral is readily found in the southeastern United States. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency …
One of the largest landholders in Florida, The Mosaic Company, owns over 300,000 acres allocated to mining. As the largest industry in the state, mining over 16 million tons of phosphate rock per year, is self-regulated and required by the county and state government to only report on balanced Ph levels.
The phosphate of Florida is known commercially as bone phosphate of lime, used throughout the world as the basis of all fertilizers. Phosphate rock is found in many sections of the world, the chief producing sections today being the French possessions of Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco, Makatea Island, the Dutch West Indies, Japan, Egypt, Australia ...
Globally in 2017, 270 million metric tons of phosphate rock were mined and processed. There are large deposits found in China, the Middle East, North Africa and the United States. The U.S. processes approximately 10 percent of the world's phosphate rock in four states; Florida, Idaho, North Carolina, and Utah (USGS 2017).
Florida's Phosphate Mines. There are 27 phosphate mines in Florida, covering more than 450,000 acres. Nine phosphate mines are currently active. Nine mines are 100 percent reclaimed and released from …
The polluted leftovers of Florida's phosphate fertilizer mining industry, more than 1 billion tons in "stacks" that resemble enormous ponds, are at risk for leaks or other contamination triggered by Hurricane Ian, said environmental groups Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. (Tiffany Tompkins/The Bradenton Herald via AP, File) ST. PETERSBURG, Fla ...
1:04. The use of phosphogypsum in Florida's road construction has been outlawed for over 30 years, as the fertilizer waste product can emit mild levels of radioactive radon gas. But House Bill ...
A blanket of phosphate deposits covers much of peninsular Florida. In the areas that are considered economical to mine, the matrix layer, which consists of approximately equal parts phosphate rock, clay, and sand, averages 12 to 15 feet in thickness. The matrix is buried beneath a soil "overburden" that is typically 15-30 feet deep.
Phosphate mining is the fifth-largest mining industry in the U.S. by quantity of material mined, the EPA reported. In 2019 alone, an estimated 23 million metric tons of phosphate rock were removed ...
Reclamation: Strategies and Stages. Giant draglines dig 25 to 30 feet into the earth to get at the valuable ore, which is part of what the phosphate industry calls "matrix.". Matrix is a mixture of sand, clay and the phosphate mineral. This strip mining leaves 50 to 60 foot deep holes or pits interspersed with piles of cast earth, and the ...
Florida Department of Environmental Protection. There are 27 phosphate mines in Florida, covering nearly half a billion acres. Phosphate pebbles were found in the Peace River in the 1880's, setting off a mining rush where Hardee, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Polk counties meet. "Bone Valley" was named for the large number of prehistoric …
Mosaic is one of the state's largest landowners. The company owns more than 290,000 acres — primarily in Polk, Hillsborough, Hardee, Manatee and DeSoto counties — roughly half of which of ...
This is true for dust from our mining operations which, like the phosphate rock we mine, may contain low levels of radiation. The dust generated during the removal of rock and soil above the phosphate deposits – probably the dustiest part of mining – would be comparable to the dust generated in agricultural tilling or digging in your yard. ...
The water that is discharged to the environment from phosphate mining or processing land is regulated by National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits that assure it does not degrade the quality of Florida's waters. The biggest problem is when process pond water from the chemical processing plants has to be released.
Florida phosphate mining dates back to the first hard rock deposits found near Hawthorne in Alachua County in 1883. Endurance was imperative in the early years when phosphate mining was done with wheelbarrows, picks and shovels. Next came mule-drawn scrapers.
Florida and North Carolina accounted for more than 75% of total domestic output; the remainder was produced in Idaho and Utah. Marketable product refers to beneficiated …