Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
- Continuous
- Room-and-pillar
|
Production Start | ... |
Mine Life | 2066 |
The Mosaic facility is a producer of potash fertilizer and consists of an underground mine and a mill and tailings disposal complex at the surface. The plant produces K-Mag (langbeinite, K2SO4•2MgSO4). |
Source:
p. 45
Company | Interest | Ownership |
The Mosaic Company
|
100 %
|
Indirect
|
Mosaic Potash Carlsbad Inc.
(operator)
|
100 %
|
Direct
|
Mosaic Potash Carlsbad Inc. operates as a subsidiary of the Mosaic Company.
Contractors
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Summary:
The Carlsbad potash district is located within the northern New Mexico portion of the Delaware Basin. The Delaware Basin is the western subdivision of the greater Permian Basin, one of the deepest intracratonic basins in North America.
Potash mineralization at Carlsbad occurs in the Ochoan Epoch (Upper Permian Age) Salado Formation. The Salado Formation, up to a maximum of 2,200 ft. thick, is an evaporite sequence dominated by 650 to 1,300 ft. of halite and muddy halite. It hosts 12 ore zones, 11 in the middle or McNutt Member and the 12th in the Upper Member. The area underlain by the 12 ore zones is about 1,900 sq. miles. The 400-ft. thick McNutt Member is at a depth of 300 to 1,500 ft. below the surface.
Mining Methods
- Continuous
- Room-and-pillar
Summary:
The Carlsbad Facility utilizes an underground room-and-pillar mining method. Pillars are cut in a manner that creates a panel; panel sizes can be changed based on grade, ground conditions and lease or oil and gas boundaries. The mine currently has five mine panels that consist of 9 to 11 rooms. Drum-style continuous miners are utilized for mining. As the continuous miner advances, ore is fed off a boom, located at the back of the miner into battery-powered ore haulage units. These units transport the ore through the open mine workings and dump it onto an extensive belt system that conveys the ore to the surface for milling.
Langbeinite (K-Mag) ore is hoisted 850 feet from the underground mine to the surface at a maximum rate of 13,300 tpd and emptied into a bin.
Source:
Summary:
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Source:
Reserves at December 31, 2022:
A 4% K2O cut-off grade with less than 2% kieserite is used to estimate mineral resources and mineral resources.
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
Proven
|
172.9 Mt
|
K2O
|
6.5 %
|
Inferred
|
39 Mt
|
K2O
|
6 %
|
Heavy Mobile Equipment as of June 6, 2012:
HME Type |
Continuous Miner
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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