Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
The ornamental annual flower industry and consumers are the greatest abusers of phosphates. This may be coming to a rapid end (thank goodness) because this mineral is already in short supply. The wholesale price has tripled in the last year.
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Yup.
I live in the county that sits right in the middle of the Bone Valley Deposit, the deposit used to produce about 75% of the US supply and 25% of the world supply of phosphate. My county is the most heavily mined, but there are mines in the counties all around mine.
(We are also former #1 citrus producer in FL, home of Cypress Gardens, Bok Tower, and lots of garage meth labs. If you are in to water gardens, you may have heard the word "Slocum." The old Slocum store (and home?) was here too. It closed before I moved to town, and the building was torn down while I lived here. Remnants of the plants, ponds, and landscaping are still visible.)
Here is the executive summary:
Environmental issues (regulations, toxic spills) have caused some slowdowns in domestic phosphate production and pushed it to 3rd world countries and increased cost.
As the mines in this county get used up the mining moves south, but they are pushing up against the south county line (Hardee) and are getting resistance from communities down there to opening more mines. If they can get the permits, some supply will be opened up and prices may ease some. If they can't get permits, price will remain high or rise.
They expect the deposit to run out in 25 to 50 years.
When you need something to put you to sleep, read about my home:
Polk County, Florida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A 5 part story:
Sun - Florida: The State of Phosphate part 1
Sun - Florida: The State of Phosphate part 2
Sun - Florida: The State of Phosphate part 3
Sun - Florida: The State of Phosphate part 4
Sun - Florida: The State of Phosphate part 5