Pub. 4 2014 Issue 3

17 MINING FOCUS Phosphate mines allow us to get the phosphorus we need, and therefore are critical for food production or for anyone making a living by growing plants. But the phosphate we get from mining also is useful in many other ways. For example, oven-baked foods use phosphates, and they are also in electronics, many of the products in your bathroom, and fabrics. In addition, some of the other uses you make but don’t think about include: • Water-based paint has polyphosphates in it. • Ceramics use phosphates. • Acid-based chemical polishes for aluminum and aluminum alloys use phosphorus. • You can clean water for safe drinking by treating it with phosphates and phosphoric acid. Of course, the phosphate mining industry helps our economy, as well. It adds more than $2 billion worth of value to different products each year, not to mention the taxes generated or the good paying jobs it provides. In fact, in Utah mining jobs pay nearly twice the statewide average wage. Where to Find It In addition to the phosphate that is found and mined right here in Utah, the biggest deposits in the U.S. are located in the following areas: • The Bone Valley region in Central Florida • The Soda Springs region in Idaho • Coastal North Carolina Bone Valley was named because there are lots of old fossils buried there: everything from mastodons to saber-tooth tigers and the teeth of huge sharks whose bodies measured 40 feet in length. Experts believe that the deposits were made when the ocean covered Florida, about ten million years ago. Smaller deposits can also be found in: • Montana • Tennessee • Georgia • South Carolina Phosphate Mining in Florida The usual Florida phosphatemine has amatrix of phosphate ore 10 to 20 feet thick located about 15 to 20 feet under the surface of the earth. Phosphate mining in Florida began in 1883. At first, miners used wheelbarrows, picks, and shovels. Then someone had the idea to use scrapers drawn by mules, and everyone switched to that method. Since the river pebbles in Florida’s Peace River had phosphate deposits, early miners used steam shovels and barges equipped with centrifugal pumps to get the phosphate. In the 1920s and 1930s, after electricity and diesel power began to be more commonly used, miners started using huge cranes, called draglines. Phosphate Mining in Utah and Idaho Utah and Idaho have a plentiful resource of many valuable industrial minerals, including phosphate. Experts believe the region contains half of all the U.S. phosphate reserves still waiting to be mined. These Idaho-Utah reserves are particularly important because so much of the phosphate in Florida has already been mined, whereas the Idaho-Utah deposits can continue to supply phosphate for much-needed products, such as fertilizers, to farmers located throughout the U.S. Mining and Reclamation Reclamation plans are in place before mining even begins. Reclaiming the land after mining and returning it to a useful purpose is an important part of the mining process. Thousands of acres of phosphate mining have been successfully reclaimed and are being used by all kinds of wildlife. Many times the process of reclaiming a mine creates better wildlife habitat than existed previously. A perfect example is work being done in Utah to enhance habitat for the Greater Sage-grouse. Through reclamation efforts that occur concurrently with its mining operations and consistently exceed regulatory requirements, Simplot Phosphates has provided hundreds of acres of prime habitat for this sensitive species.  Turn Downtime Into Uptime 1-800-646-6636 www.Honnen.com Salt Lake City 801-262-7441 Get your engine running like new! Take advantage of special rebuild o ers from Honnen Equipment on select John Deere 4.5L, 6.8L, or 12.5/13.5L engines. Our Factory Certi ed Technicians will perform your engine rebuild utilizing John Deere remanufactured components. Ogden 801-627-0049 St. George 435-652-8003 Contact your local dealership today for more information! By rebuilding your major component before it fails, you can prevent catastrophic downtime at a fraction of the cost of new. !