Closing the mines

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 24, 2000

Mine closures and layoffs have been rippling through the phosphate industry. U.S. companies have slowed their production of phosphate-based fertilizer because of lower demand in the United States and lower prices on the global market. Here are some of the cutbacks over the past year by companies active in Florida:

June 28: PCS Phosphate of Chicago says it will lay off 111 people from its White Springs plant, about 60 miles north of Gainesville. It follows a layoff of 70 employees in 1999. About 1,000 employees will be left.

June 27: IMC Global, by far the largest phosphate company operating in Florida, says it will indefinitely shut down all its phosphate fertilizer production in Louisiana in late July. That means the Illinois company will rely on its Florida plants. Including earlier cutbacks in Florida, IMC has chopped phosphate production by 50 percent.

June 16: Agrifos Mining LLC confirms it is permanently shutting down its Nichols mine, idling 120 workers.

December 1999: Mulberry Corp., which operates a mine in Manatee County and two chemical plants, lays off 167 workers.

November 1999: IMC says it will close and dismantle its phosphate production plant in Nichols and close its phosphate rock mine in Payne Creek, which had been idle all year. About 215 jobs are eliminated, a year after the company cut 530 jobs, or 5.9 percent of its work force, in a major restructuring.

Source: Times research

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