The Outlook For The United States Phosphate Rock Industry And Its Place In The World

The United States has traditionally been the world's largest producer and net exporter of phosphate rock and related fertilizer products with the exception of rock exports from Morocco. In recent years, however, U.S. producers have faced increasing competition from operations in foreign countries, leaving the future position of the U.S. phosphate .industry as a leader in the world markets somewhat less certain. This paper will review the U.S. phosphate rock industry in relation to its known demonstrated reserves, its historical and present production and export levels, and its future mining potential. The paper will include an analysis of the availability of phosphate rock in the United States represented by cost-tonnage relationships. The U.S. phosphate rock industry has for decades provided raw materials at reasonable costs to the phosphate fertilizer industry, and the fertilizer products have been made available to both domestic and international markets. Natural soils normally contain low quantities of phosphorus, and cultivation exhausts the available phosphorus through the removal of harvested products. Yields diminish, and it becomes necessary to apply phosphorus to the soil in an amount at least sufficient to compensate for removal. Raising the level of phosphorus also permits nitrogen and potash fertilizer nutrients to be effective and sustain the high crop yields necessary to support increasing food demands. In only a few areas of the world are soils, climate, rainfall, and low-cost phosphate fertilizer available to assure high agricultural yields in successive years. One of these areas is the central United States and south central Canada. By contrast, in the Soviet Union, the weather conditions in farming areas frequently cause crops to either bake or drown in the field. To attempt to counter the effect of weather on production, the U.S.S.R. has increased use of fertilizer and equipment in recent years. The effect of fertilizer on various crops has been documented, and in all cases, improvements in yield and plant development were noted, as was the ability of fertilizer to mitigate the effects of unfavorable climatic conditions. Phosphate resources can be classified as either identified or undiscovered. In the identified classification, we are principally concerned with demonstrated phosphate resources, or those that have been measured or indicated. In the southeastern United States, the phosphate mining areas of Florida and the Carolinas have been explored and drilled extensively in attempts to locate new deposits. The exploration programs indicate that another Florida Bone Valley Formation or North Carolina Pamlico River Deposit is unlikely to be discovered in the southeastern U.S. coastal plain. Phosphate rock deposits of commercial interest in the western United States are located in Montana, western Wyoming, northern Utah, and southeastern Idaho. The deposits are in the Permian Phosphoria Formation with most of the mining activity occurring in Idaho. Although substantial demonstrated resources have been identified, recovery costs and the field's isolation from markets have restricted growth of the industry in the west. The phosphate rock deposits in Tennessee are well known, and it is estimated that about 29 million metric tons1 are potentially recoverable. Undiscovered deposits of brown rock in Tennessee would likely be quite small.