Mineral%20deposits%20in%20New%20Mexico%202009

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Mineral deposits in New Mexico 2009

• Virginia T. McLemore
• New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral
  Resources, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resource
  Department
• Company annual reports
• Personal visits to mines
• Historical production statistics from US Bureau
  of Mines, US Geological Survey, NM Energy,
  Minerals and Natural Resource Department (NM
  MMD), company annual reports

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SUMMARY

• Value of mineral production in 2007 of 2.2
  billion (does not include oil and gas)ranked
  15th in the US
• 1980-2007 19.5 billion dollars worth of mineral
  production (excluding coal, oil and gas)
• Exploration for garnet, gypsum, limestone,
  nepheline syenite, agate, specimen fluorite,
  gold, silver, iron, beryllium, uranium, copper,
  potash

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http//www.emnrd.state.nm.us/MMD/MRRS/2007ProdData
.htm
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(No Transcript)
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Active mines and exploration in New Mexico
2000-2009 (excluding aggregates)
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Active mines 2007

• 242 active registered mines (NMMMD)
• 5 coal
• 3 potash, 5 potash plants
• 1 moly (mine and mill)
• 2 copper open pits, 1 concentrator (mill), 2
  solvent/electro-winning (SX-EW) plants
• 20 industrial minerals mines, 18 mills
• 184 aggregate/stone

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3rd in copper in 2007 (Chino, Tyrone)
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1804-2007 gt10.8 million short tons Cu worth
gt15.2 billion
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Copper reserves2006

• Chino
• milling reserves are 53.9 million tons of 0.68
  copper and 0.03 molybdenum
• leaching reserves are 156 million tons of 0.4 Cu
  
• Tyrone
• leaching reserves are estimated as 80.9 million
  tons of ore grading 0.36 Cu
• Cobre
• leaching reserves are 81.8 million tons of 0.41
  Cu
• Niagara deposit
• contains 500 million tons of ore grading 0.29 Cu
  (leaching)

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Misc

• Freeport-McMoRan Copper Gold Inc. purchased
  Phelps Dodge Corp.
• The Hurley smelter is closed and was demolished
• The Hidalgo smelter also is closed and being
  demolished

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Potential Copper Deposits

• Copper Flat (56.5 mill st at 0.432 Cu, 0.004
  oz/ton Au, 0.064 oz/ton Ag, and 0.014 Mo)
• Orogrande
• Hanover Mountain (80 mill st reserves at 0.38 Cu
  )
• Copper Hill, Picuris district (46.5 mill st of
  ore at 0.42 Cu)
• Lone Mountain (7.5 mill st at 2-3 Cu, 102 Pb,
  4-5 Zn, 203 opt Ag, .01-.02 opt Au)
• McGhee Peak, Pelloncillo Mountains
• Mimbres

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1
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3
7
5
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New Discovery

• Entrée Gold Inc. completed drilling in the
  Lordsburg district and has announced the
  discovery of a copper porphyry deposit

http//www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January
2009/15/c8081.html
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6th molybdenum in 2007 (Questa)
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1919-2007 gt157 million pounds Mo worth gt450.7
million
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Moly Reserves at QuestaChevron Mining Inc.

• Proven reserves
• 16,344,898 tons of 0.343 MoS2 at a cutoff grade
  0.25 MoS2
• Probable
• 47,198,409 tons of 0.315 MoS2
• Possible
• 3,223,000 tons of 0.369 MoS2

Questa
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Victorio Mountains, Luna County

• 21.5 million tons indicated ore at a grade of
  0.15 Mo, 0.13 W
• Drilling this year increased the resource
  estimate
• Be also found in district

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Gold and silver production in2004-2008 as a
byproduct of copper production from the Ivanhoe
concentrator (Freeport-McMoRan )9th in gold
production10th in silver production
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1804-2007 gt3.2 million troy ounces Au worth
gt400.8 million
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1804-2007 gt117.6 million troy ounces Ag worth
gt254.9 million
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Gold and Silver

1. Vera Cruz, Lincoln Co
2. Carache Canyon, Santa Fe Co
3. Lukas Canyon, Santa Fe Co
4. San Lazarus, Santa Fe Co
5. Jicarilla Au placers
6. Steeple Rock district
7. Mogollon

2-4
5
1
7
6
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New Gold Mine

• Santa Fe Gold is developing the Summit mine in
  the Steeple Rock district and plans to begin
  production this year
• The ore will be milled at Lordsburg

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1st in potash in 2007 (Mosaic, Intrepid Mining)
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Underground operations at Mosaic potash mine,
Carlsbad.
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Reserves in Carlsbad district

• Potash (gt553 million tons)
• Potash is used in fertilizers among other uses

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Industrial minerals are increasing in importance
in New Mexico

• 1st in zeolite (St. Cloud, Sierra County)
• 5th in pumice (6 operations)
• 1st in perlite (4 operations)
• 13th in gypsum (4 operations)
• 11th in salt (4 operations, Carlsbad)

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Stone House zeolite mine, Sierra County (18.3
million tons of reserves).
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Las Conchas pumice quarry, Sandoval County
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Socorro perlite quarry
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Gypsum is mined at White Mesa, Sandoval County
(Eagle Materials, formerly Centex American
Gypsum) and used to manufacture wallboard.
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Other industrial minerals deposits

• Brick and clay in El Paso area
• Cement in Tijeras Canyon
• Humate in the San Juan Basin
• Travertine (dimension stone), Meso del Oro, west
  of Belen
• 477.6 million tons of travertine

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AGGREGATES

• 184 active and 11 standby aggregate mines in 2007
• highways, railroad, and home construction
• More aggregate operations are in rural areas
• A shortage of aggregate in urban areas is
  expected

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URANIUM IN NEW MEXICO 2009

• 2nd in uranium resources 15 million tons ore at
  0.277 U3O8 (84 million lbs U3O8) at 30/lb (DOE
  estimates in 2002)
• Numerous companies acquiring properties
  (Strathmore, Energy Minerals, Laramide Resources,
  among others)
• HRI, Inc. awaiting permits for in situ leach in
  Church Rock area
• Several exploration permits approved or in
  progress

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Uranium in Grants District

• World-class deposits
• 340 million lbs of U3O8 from 1948-2002
• 4th largest district in total uranium production
  in the world
• More than 30 of the total uranium production in
  the United States
• 380 million pounds of resources identified by
  the companies in 1980s (McLemore, 2007)
• Probably another 300 million lbs of U3O8
  remaining to be discovered
• District total of 600-900 million lbs of U3O8

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Hitzman and Valenta, 2005, Economic Geology, v.
100, pp. 16571661 Grants district (V.T.
McLemore estimate)
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Mine Water Recovery only
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Mount Taylor head frame, 2006
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Importance of sandstone uranium deposits in the
Grants district

• Major mining companies abandoned the districts
  after the last cycle leaving advanced uranium
  projects.
• Inexpensive property acquisition costs includes
  millions of exploration and development
  expenditures.
• Availability of data and technical expertise.
• Recent advances in in situ leaching makes
  sandstone uranium deposits attractive
  economically.

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C de Baca Project, Socorro County

• Max Resource Corp.
• 1.67 million tons grading 0.18 U3O8
• Cretaceous Crevasse Canyon and Tertiary Baca
  Formationsandstone deposits
• Drilling 20072.0 feet of 0.065 eU308 at a depth
  of 295.5 feet

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COAL

• Most significant mineral commodity in New Mexico
• Fuels electrical generating plants
• 4 surface mines and 1 underground mine in San
  Juan Basin
• Resources at Raton, Carrizozo
• 13th in production in U.S. in 2007
• 2nd best value of production in NM in 2005
• 11th in estimated recoverable coal reserves7
  billion tons of recoverable reserves (2005
  figures)

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Other Potential Commodities
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Iron ore from the Capitan Mts

• Produced 250,000 mill tons Fe ore 1963-1988
• El Capitan Precious Metals Corp. claims a
  resource of 141,000 tons ore of 0.041 opt Au
• Drilling permit approved by MMD 11/26/07, but
  rejected by the USFS requesting additional work

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Kline Mountain kaolin deposit
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Other Potential Commodities

• Nepheline syenite from Wind Mt, Cornudas Mts
  (200,000,000 tons)
• Garnet from Grant County, San Pedro, Orogrande
• Titanium (Fe, REE, Th, Y, Zr) from Cretaceous
  black sandstone deposits in San Juan Basin
• Be from Iron Mountain, San Mateo Mts
• Kaolin, tin in Taylor Creek
• Au, Ag Steeple Rock, Malone, Burro Mountains

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Special Projects

• Uranium in the Grants district
• Distribution of resources, mapping, aquifer
  mapping
• Sources of uranium
• Environmental studies
• Environmental studies of mining districts
• Slope stability at the Questa mine
• Lead in NM mining districts and other areas
• Be in central New Mexico
• Workshops for training teachers
• DigIt 2009 Industrial Minerals Albuquerque-Carlsba
  d (NMMA, June 2009)
• RockIn Around NM Grants (NMBGMR, July 2009)

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More Information

• Mines and Minerals Division
• http//www.emnrd.state.nm.us/MMD/index.htm
• Virginia McLemore web page
• http//geoinfo.nmt.edu/staff/mclemore/home.html
• New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral
  Resources
• http//geoinfo.nmt.edu/