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Mosaic Company Studies Potential $700 Million Investment In St. James Parish Ammonia Plant

12/24/2012
The Mosaic Company said it is beginning front-end engineering and design work on a potential $700 million ammonia production plant at the company’s existing Faustina plant site in St. James Parish, Louisana, undertaking a project could create 53 new direct jobs.

“As the world’s leading producer of phosphate and potash crop nutrients, Mosaic’s mission is to help the world grow the food it needs,” said Richard Krakowski, Vice President-Supply Chain. “Our Louisiana operations are vital to that mission and ammonia is an essential part of our manufacturing processes. Louisiana is a terrific place to do business, and we've received great support thus far from state, local and economic development officials. We’re eager to conduct the engineering and design evaluation that will lead to a final investment decision next year.”

Mosaic expects to make its final investment decision in mid-2013, after the detailed engineering design and cost evaluation of the project are completed. Construction would start in 2014, with commercial operation of the plant likely to begin in early 2016.

Mosaic operates two Louisiana chemical facilities on opposite banks of the Mississippi River: Faustina on the west side and Uncle Sam on the east side. The project would nearly triple existing Faustina production of ammonia, with all the new production destined for sister Mosaic sites in Florida that also manufacture the company’s crop nutrient, or fertilizer, products in Florida.

Gov. Bobby Jindal said, “Mosaic could have looked at other states but chose Louisiana because of our strong business climate, skilled workforce and incredible infrastructure in the chemical and petrochemical industries. Mosaic said that they will bring back more ammonia production from overseas. Louisiana not only has favorable natural gas prices right now, but energy forecasts show the wide split between the price of oil and natural gas continuing well into the future, which means there will be more and more companies who want to invest here and create jobs.”

As an incentive to secure the project, the state will offer Mosaic a Modernization Tax Credit of $3 million, claimed over a five-year period, and the services of LED FastStart, the state’s workforce training program. In addition, Mosaic is expected to utilize the state’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption incentive programs.

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