The phosphate deposits of Florida are of sedimentary origin and are part of a phosphate-bearing province that extends from southern Florida north along the Atlantic coast into southern Virginia.

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.