Phosphate

All monetary amounts are in US dollars.
All units of measure are English.

Aurora

Operations

Aurora mines phosphate ore and refines it into phosphate rock, which is mixed with sulfuric acid to produce phosphoric acid.

Annual capacity — 6.6 million tons of phosphate rock, 1.3 million tons of phosphoric acid, 0.2 million tons of phosphate feed and 1.4 million tons of monoammonium phosphate and diammonium phosphate

Performance

Significant Events

• Reached 1 million employee hours worked without a lost-time injury
• Trained 200 new behavioural-based safety observers in 2009, bringing the total to 766 trained observers on site; 17 contract employees were also trained to conduct observations
• Received a mine continuation permit in 2009 which provides more than 30 years of additional mining
• Completed construction of the No.7 sulfuric acid plant
• Set annual records for silicon tetrafluoride and hydrofluorosilicic acid production
• Hired 79 new employees
• Reduced employee turnover rate from 8 percent in 2008 to 6 percent in 2009, primarily by improving the new employee selection process
• Achieved greater than 99.99 percent compliance with monitoring ranges in environmental permits; of the 40,000 data points monitored at the site, only one exceeded the permit range and it resulted in no damage to the environment.
• Achieved 4.3 out of 5 on the Community Leaders Survey; participants credited the site with building understanding and support for the mine continuation permit

Community Relations

• Distributed more than 31,000 site sustainability brochures to Beaufort and Pamlico County residents
• Engaged employees, retirees and the community at large, who sent more then 11,000 letters to state and federal elected officials in support of the mine continuation permit

Community Donations

• Participated in a record-breaking United Way campaign that included participation by several contractors/vendors
• Raised employee participation in our matching gift program by 16 percent
• Donated $254,000 to community organizations in 2009, including the United Way, Aurora Fossil Museum, East Carolina University, Capital Area YMCA and Public Radio East
• Contributed more than $377,000 of in-kind goods and services to community organizations including Bonner Boy Scout Camp, Pantego Volunteer Fire Department, Pamlico County, Belhaven Fire Department, City of Washington, American Cancer Society, Salvation Army and various youth athletic groups

Education Initiatives

• Participated in education initiatives and partnerships, including engineering coop partnerships with North Carolina State University, Virginia Tech and East Carolina University; coop partnerships with Beaufort Community College, Pitt Community College, Pamlico Community College and Craven Community College
• Provided welding supplies and helped upgrade the welding facility at Southside High School

Awards

• Received the North Carolina Governor’s Award for Excellence in Workforce Development, recognizing our employee training and our work with educational institutions
• Received several awards from the North Carolina Department of Labor for safe operations
• Received the Norfolk Southern Railroad Thoroughbred Safety Award for the 13th consecutive year
• Received the Craven County American Cancer Relay for Life Silver Award
• Received the Beaufort and Pamlico Counties American Cancer Relay for Life Gold Award
• Received the US Marine Corps Reserve Award for Outstanding Contributions to Toys for Tots
• Received the Children’s Miracle Network 2009 Partners in Hope Award
• Received the American Red Cross 2009 Hero Award

Energy and Environment

• Completed construction of several wetland mitigation projects, including Bay City Farm (712 acres); Gum Run (89 acres); Parker Farm (683 acres); Upper Back Creek (217 acres); Rutman Creek Watershed (750 acres); monitoring is underway or has been completed for all projects
• Converted 18 of the phosphoric acid evaporators to mechanical seals, significantly reducing freshwater usage
• Replaced company vehicles with fuel-efficient hybrid models
• Increased the capacity of the electric generator from 40 megawatts to 52 megawatts so more power can be generated from process waste heat

Local Procurement

• Made local purchases in 2009 of $186.3 million, or 62 percent of total expenditures (excluding major expansions, raw materials, energy and transportation)