20 Critical Minerals Potential in the Land of Enchantment: Past Production and Future Potential

Global demand for critical minerals is increasing. These non-fuel minerals are essential for clean energy and high-tech industries. New Mexico's future critical minerals potential is being re-evaluated through USGS Earth MRI surveys and DOE-funded efforts.

Tuesday, 19 May 2026
8:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Alvarado B

Mine waste as a resource: Critical minerals in mine wastes in New Mexico

Paper number: 20-6
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 10:10 AM – 10:30 AM

Authors

Abstract

New Mexico has led the U.S. in uranium and potash production, and has significant past production of copper, molybdenum, silver, and coal ash. Many of these former and current mines have existing mine wastes, generated during mineral production, which have potential for critical minerals, especially since the actual mineral production was generally for the primary commodity and not critical minerals. In New Mexico, mine wastes including waters are being characterized for critical minerals. The first step is to inventory and prioritize the mine wastes. The second step is to sample, characterize and estimate the quantity of critical minerals in these mine wastes to determine if there is enough material that could be reprocessed. Sampling is by USGS procedures. Characterization includes determining the type of deposit, mineralogy, geochemistry, density/specific gravity, and volume of the mine waste. The mine history of the area also needs to be summarized to better understand the deposits. Tonnage estimates of the important critical minerals are calculated. For example, the Copper Flat tailings contain an estimated 402,900 kg of Cu, 1,280 kg of Bi, 6,880 kg of Co, 15,600 kg of Ga, and 53,400 kg of Zn. The Black Hawk district are unusual arsenide five-element veins deposit (Ag, Ni, Co, As, U, Bi) and mine waste samples are elevated in Ag (>200 ppm), Co (290 ppm), Ni (2,130 ppm), and Zn (8,463 ppm). In New Mexico, there are an estimated 94 million tons of uranium tailings that contain vanadium, cobalt, arsenic, and possibly rare earth elements. Even mining-influenced waters could have critical minerals. Future mining of mine wastes that potentially contain critical minerals will directly benefit the economy of the local areas. Possible re-mining of mine wastes could clean up these sites and pay for reclamation. These characterization projects included training of younger, professional geologists and students in economic and reclamation geology.

 

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 4

doi: 10.1130/abs/2026RM-410635

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