Phosphate mining company backs out of plan for mining operation in Bradford County

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BROOKER, Fla. (WCJB) - After a seven-year long battle, Bradford County is celebrating the backing out of a mining company’s plan to mine phosphate in the area.

HPS Enterprises II, LLC applied for a special use permit to mine nearly 11,000 acres of land along the New River for phosphate in 2016.

The plan has been met with protests from residents of surrounding areas as the mining would have threatened the environment including water sources that feed into Florida springs.

Seven years later, county commissioners received a letter from the legal representation of HPS requesting “to withdraw the above-referenced application without the county taking any formal action on it.”

One of the many groups that headed protests against the mine was the Bradford Environmental Forum.

“I think they finally realized they weren’t going to be able to mine in Union County and then they realized that they didn’t have a viable plan. According to the Florida Institute for Research on Phosphate Mining, they needed to do more testing of their new-fangled method of mining phosphate.”

Mosley hopes the county and state will develop ecological sites in Bradford, one such site mentioned was Brooks Sink, which is a sinkhole much like Devil’s Millhopper.

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