Commissioners approve 14-year extension for Mosaic at Four Corners

BRADENTON — In a relatively uneventful hearing, Manatee County Commissioners granted Mosaic’s request for a 14-year extension to its Master Mining Plan (MMP) for its Four Corners Mine.

Two Mosaic items were scheduled for hearings during the Wednesday land use meeting: the amendment to extend the MMP and the approval of a new Local Development Agreement (LDA). The latter of the two was, moreover, a clerical matter initiated by statutory changes, as well as the request to amend the MMP.

When both items went before the Planning Commission last month, planning commissioners unanimously recommended that the BOCC approve rescinding the DRI and replacing it with an LDA, while moving unanimously not to recommend approval of the MMP amendment for extension.

County officials scheduled the meeting for both Wednesday and Thursday, anticipating the potential for heavy public engagement. However, Wednesday’s meeting adjourned before lunch, with both Mosaic items receiving approvals.

The hearings opened with a lengthy presentation by multiple Mosaic representatives, followed by a county staff presentation. Commissioners took turns asking questions of both presenters before moving into deliberations.

Responding to questions regarding the company’s current MMP, Mosaic’s Director of Land Use Permitting, Shelley Thornton, told commissioners that the Four Corners Mine was planned to be closed to active mining by 2030, with reclamation completed by 2041, but an approval for the requested 14-year extension would mean mining operations would continue until 2044 and the associated reclamation until 2055. 

Thornton added that, if approved, the extension would also include certain benefits, including a projected decrease of approximately 250,000 truck trips off Duette Road, as the company would be able to shift traffic patterns to move ore within its own infrastructure and properties.  

“In talking about the East Duette tract,” Thornton explained, “we have draglines in Hardee County at the Ona Mine Facility, and right now, they are close enough to the East Duette tract that they could go in there, mine sooner rather than later, and shave off approximately three years of reclamation for that facility. If we were to wait, then mining and reclamation on that would take much longer… being able to move that rock now, while those draglines are in that vicinity, allows us to complete those activities sooner.” 

Responding to a commissioner’s question about “Why 14 years?” Russell Schweiss, Senior Director of Land and Resource Management for Mosaic, said the extension request was based on the company’s projections and the current dates as outlined in the MMP for the ore reserves within Manatee County’s jurisdiction.

“Right now, the time frame we have selected of 14 years is associated with the reserves that are within the reach of that facility and currently permitted to be mined. It will take 14 years to mine those reserves… at the last board approval, those were not permitted reserves,” he explained.

“Like Piney Point,” stressed Compton, “the faster you can get this industry to do what they’re supposed to do and move on, the less risk that you’ll have to the environment and the public health.”

Commissioners Deliberate

Commissioner George Kruse opened deliberations, drawing the board’s attention to the lower-than-anticipated public engagement on the issue, speaking to the fact that, unlike in 2017, the items before the board were not a rezone request and did not include approvals for any new lands to be opened to mining. 

“This is start-and-stop a question as to whether or not Mosaic can use what they are already using for 14 more years,” Kruse said, adding his assessment that commissioners’ votes should be based solely on whether the extension request “makes sense” and whether it conforms to the county’s comprehensive plan and the existing MMP. 

“There was a reason there was a deadline,” suggested Kruse of the existing mining plan, “Because at some point we are going to need the land in the general vicinity of your operations.” He went on to highlight the location of Mosaic’s land within Manatee County. “The furthest west point of any Mosaic property that they could mine is 10 miles east of our FDAB line and 12 miles from the nearest active development going on in Manatee County. That’s how far away this mining is from anything residential,” He said, suggesting that those facts justified an approval of the request for extension to Mosaic’s already approved operations. 

Kruse ended his comments by making a motion to approve. Commissioner Tal Siddique readily seconded his motion. 

During his comments ahead of the vote, Siddique acknowledged the two sides to the debate as presented to commissioners through presentations and public comment: “Mining versus not mining.”

“For me, this is a policy decision as to whether we want to allow you to continue mining,” Siddique said, directing his comments to representatives of Mosaic. “I do not see why we should not let you do that—to continue to run your business on already impacted lands.”

Commissioner Bob McCann and Carol Ann Felts disagreed with their colleagues' stated positions. 

McCann said that he found an approval for a 14-year extension when the existing mining plan still had four years remaining was premature and “pretty long.” 

Felts, who serves the district in which Mosaic’s mining operations are located in Manatee County, said that because of the environmental impacts of phosphate mining, an extension of 14-years to the existing mining plan was simply not something she could support.  

Though she stated her firm position against approval, Felts also acknowledged Mosaic’s prominent role in certain advancements in the phosphate mining industry over the years that prioritized environmental restoration and preservation, as well as acknowledging its role in the community as a good neighbor, supporting a range of community-oriented initiatives and public needs.

“This is one of the fears I had about being on this board,” said Felts. “I did not want to have to make this decision, because I do understand the phosphate industry, I do understand what they’ve done for my community. I do understand… but we have to wean ourselves from unsustainable practices.    

“Of course, we’re dependent on Mosaic,” she continued. “They give us jobs. These people who have worked for generations in that industry, I salute you. You don’t find a lot of people who have worked for the same corporation over generations, and by-golly bless their hearts for all their efforts to work to make this better, but phosphate mining is not good to begin with… We’ve come a long way, but the truth is, it’s not really good for us.” 

Directing her comments to the applicant, Felts explained that, by her assessment, there wasn’t anything the company couldn’t accomplish within the remaining four years of the current mining plan. 

“If you could get it all done without a 14-year extension, why are we asking for a 14-year extension?” she asked rhetorically. “Because there will be more,” she said, answering her own question. “We have to start weaning ourselves from an industry that has consequences… Mosaic tries to be a good citizen, and I am proud of having that in my district, but we made a contract that has a finite time. I don’t see a demonstrated public benefit to extend this for 14 additional years.” 

Commissioner Jason Bearden expressed feeling stuck in the middle between the boards’ considerations, both for and against approval. 

“The current operations that they have now, to me, it’s not them extending and expanding their territory to mine more; it’s just allowing them more time to mine what they currently have today,” Bearden said, while acknowledging Mosiac’s impacts on the local economy, community, and agricultural industry locally and nationally. 

Commissioner Amanda Ballard called the vote a “difficult decision,” but after seeking confirmation from the county attorney regarding certain ordinance provisions, Ballard said she would vote to approve the extension. 

“There are environmental concerns, absolutely, but there are a whole lot of other concerns as well—one of those concerns is our ability to preserve agriculture in Manatee County. Our ability to feed ourselves as a country—that’s national security,” she said. “That’s a local decision that actually has national and international implications.”

After less than four hours total for both items, commissioners voted 7-0 to rescind the DRI and replace it with a new LDA. Commissioners voted 5-2 to approve the amendment to the MMP, granting a 14-year extension of the mining operations at the Four Corners Mine as currently detailed under the MMP, with Commissioners McCann and Felts voting in opposition.

Click the video below to replay the presentations, public comments, and board deliberations on these items from the February 18, 2026, BOCC land use meeting.