PCS Phosphate Firing Contractors

PCS Phosphate will eliminate 12 contractor jobs, and reassign 12 other mine workers.

The firm blames delays in getting a federal permit to expand its mining operation in Beaufort County, North Carolina. Environmental advocates say the company itself is responsible.

PCS Phosphate will idle one of two excavation teams that strip off the top 100-foot layer of soil and rock to prepare the site for mining of phosphate ore. Actual mining will continue.

The Environmental Protection Agency says the environmental harm the expansion would entail is unacceptable to the Pamlico River and wetlands.

PCS Phosphate is based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.