ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Pointing to dozens of active mining claims on Otero Mesa in far southern New Mexico, environmentalists on Thursday renewed their push for permanent protection for the area.
Most of the 183 claims are held by Colorado-based Geovic Mining Corp., which announced last week that it finished staking 5 square miles of claims in the Cornudas Mountains in hopes of finding rare minerals.
The company said its exploration would involve only minimal disturbance, but the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance and other groups are concerned that Geovic’s exploration could lead to full-blown mining of the mountain range along the New Mexico-Texas border.
“This is turning into what could be a very big problem out there, and the only way we’re going to be able to stop this thing is if we can get some kind of formal permanent protection,” said Nathan Newcomer, associate director of the wilderness alliance.
The rolling hills and grasslands of southern New Mexico’s Otero Mesa have served as a battleground for environmentalists and the oil and natural gas industry for the past decade. Mining is a new threat, Newcomer said.
Home to hundreds of species of plants, animals and insects, the mesa is the largest publicly owned expanse of undisturbed Chihuahuan desert grassland in the United States. A portion of the mesa is designated as an area of critical environmental concern, but a number of groups, as well as former Gov. Bill Richardson, have sought national monument status for the area.
Geovic applied in late April to the New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division for an exploratory permit. The company has 161 claims in the area, but said the permit would only affect 27 of those claims.
All of the surrounding land and access roads are on public lands held by the Bureau of Land Management and the state Land Office, according to the application.
The company has also filed a mining notice with the BLM.
Geovic said initial work indicates the claims contain significant concentrations of the heavy rare earth enriched mineral eudialyte. Zirconium, tin and other minerals also have been found.
The claims have the potential to become “a long-life limited impact mining operation which would strongly support the long-term growth in the local economy,” the company said in April, when it announced the staked claims.
Ted Rodriguez, of the Apache Advocates for Otero Mesa, said such an operation would significantly alter the landscape. “To us Apache, Otero Mesa is our cathedral,” said Rodriguez, who is also the headman of the Mescalero Apache Traditional Elders Council.
The groups are also concerned about any potential impacts on groundwater sources from mining operations.
