Phosphate Extraction Increases by 34%

Iran's only phosphate producer, Esfordi Phosphate Industrial and Mineral Complex, registered a 34% increase in extraction to 178,563 tons during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 20-Sept. 21). 
The company's output amounted to 37,349 tons of phosphate concentrates in H1, marking a significant decline compared with 52,205 tons in the corresponding period of the year before. 
A total of 32,003 tons of phosphate concentrates were sold by the company during the period, up 48% year-on-year, Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization reported. 
Esfordi phosphate plant is a subsidiary of Iran Minerals Production and Supply Company—a subsidiary of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) located in Bafq County of Yazd Province.
Phosphate refers to a rock or ore containing phosphate ions. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in agriculture and industry.
Approximately 90% of rock phosphate production are used for fertilizer and animal feed supplements and the rest for industrial chemicals. 
In addition to phosphate fertilizers for agriculture, phosphorus from rock phosphate is also used in animal-feed supplements, food preservatives, baking flour, pharmaceuticals, anticorrosion agents, cosmetics, fungicides, insecticides, detergents, ceramics, water treatment and metallurgy.