The phosphate deposits of Florida are sedimentary in origin and part of a phosphate-bearing province that extends from southern Florida north along the Atlantic coast into southern Virginia. Sedimentary phosphate deposits consist of rock in which the phosphate mineral(s) occur in grains, pellets, nodules, and as phosphate replacement of calcium in the remains of animal skeletal material and excrement.

All of Mosaic phosphate deposits are located in the Central Florida Phosphate District. The general description of the phosphatic deposits in Central Florida consist of two geological facies. The phosphate bearing units are within the Bone Valley Member of the Peace River Formation and the undifferentiated Member of the Peace River Formation within the South Florida Extension region of the Central District. The deposit characteristics transition from north east to the south west. The major phosphate bearing units in the north east consist of a productive Bone Valley Member with limited production in the Undifferentiated Member. The phosphate bearing units in the south west exhibit limited production in the Bone Valley Member and a productive Undifferentiated Member of the Peace River Formation.

The phosphate stratigraphy consists of 5 to 50 feet thick, white to brown poorly graded quartz sand with varying abundance of reworked phosphate grains as waste overburden. The economic zone is 13 to 50 feet thick, with a grade ranging from 27 to 35% P O . It consists of tangray to gray quartz sands, dark gray to dark gray-blue-green clays and silts with phosphate nodules and pellets present with phosphate grains and clasts predominate. There can be interbedded waste zones of 0 to 15 feet thick comprised of beds of cream to green barren sandy clay, clays or dense dolomitic clays. The basal units are dark gray to black clays to phosphatic limestone rubble to beds of phosphatic limestone.

The South Pasture property geology consists of 17 to 37 ft. (5.2 to 11.3 m) of mostly tan gray to gray poorly graded quartz sand with varying abundance of reworked phosphate grains. The first economic zone is 13 to 27 ft. (4.0 to 8.2 m) of tan-gray to gray-blue quartz sands, clays and silts with phosphate nodules and pellets arc present with phosphate grains and clasts predominate. There is an interbedded waste zone of 0 to 13 ft. (0 to 4.0 m) in thickness comprised of beds of blue to green barren sandy clays. Occasionally beds of marine limestone and dolostones or marginally phosphatic sandy beds of dolomitic clasts and grains. The second economic zone is 0 to 14 ft. (0.0 to 4.3 m) of dark gray to dark gray-blue-green clays, silts with quartz sands with phosphate nodules and pellets present with phosphate grains and clasts predominate. The phosphate grade ranges from 29 to 33% P2O5. The basal units are dark gray to black clays to phosphatic limestone rubble to beds of phosphatic limestone.

The Mosaic extracts phosphate ore using large surface mining machines - “draglines”. Prior to extracting the ore, the draglines must first remove a 10 to 50 foot layer of sandy overburden.

The Mosaic processes the ore at beneficiation plant. The ore goes through washing, screening, sizing and flotation processes designed to separate the phosphate rock from sands, clays and other foreign materials.

Beneficiation Plant Operations:
Washer
* Removes oversize material.
* Produces “pebble” phosphate.
* Removes clay by scrubbing and rinsing.
* Feeds all undersized phosphate and sand to the sizer.
* Same-sized sand and phosphate is pumped to the flotation plant for separation.

Flotation Plant
* Produces fine-sized “Concentrate” phosphate.
* Uses special additives (mostly biodegradable oils from the pulp and paper industry) to coat the phosphate.
* Phosphate separates from the sand, floats to the top and is skimmed off.
* Pumps sand back to the field for reclamation.

Blended phosphate rock is loaded onsite and transported to manufacturing facilities via rail, truck and vessel.