Four Corners Mine extension request heads to BOCC

BRADENTON — Two items related to Mosaic’s Four Corners Mine will be heard before Manatee County Commissioners on Wednesday during the first public hearings following the county’s Planning Commission's recommendation of one of the items.  The land use agenda consists of only the two quasi-judicial Mosaic Company application requests.

Mosaic’s Four Corners Mine is the largest active phosphate mining operation in Florida's Bone Valley region. The site spans thousands of acres across four counties: Manatee, Hillsborough, Hardee, and Polk.

The requests concern amendments to the Master Mining Plan for the Four Corners Mine and approval of a new Local Development Agreement (LDA) tied to the long-standing development orders for the site.

The first item, LDA-26-01, would rescind the mine’s existing DRI development orders, in accordance with state law, which has eliminated the DRI requirement for solid mineral mines. The agreement would preserve the vested rights established under the prior development orders while formally rescinding and replacing the existing DRI.

The second item is a proposed amendment, Resolution R-26-005, which would amend and restate Mosaic’s existing Master Mining Plan for the approximately 13,154-acre Four Corners Mine in northeast Manatee County near Duette. Mosaic is seeking to extend the mining termination date to Dec. 31, 2044, and the reclamation deadline to Dec. 31, 2055. The amendment would also incorporate roughly 1,246 acres already approved for mining under separate master mining plans into what would be known as the East Duette Tract and allow material mined there, as well as reserves from Hardee County’s South Pasture Extension and Ona Mine, to be processed through the Four Corners Beneficiation Plant. 

When the request was heard before Planning Commissioners in January, county staff advised that the amendment does not propose new mining acreage beyond what is already approved and would not authorize new impacts to wetlands, buffers, or other natural resources beyond existing approvals.

However, Planning Commissioners expressed concern about what they characterized as a lengthy, blanket extension of mining operations, questioning whether it was consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan or in the community’s best interest. The Planning Commission voted to recommend denial of the resolution as written, 6-0, and directed staff to amend the master mining plan consistent only with such vested rights.