New perspective on Copper Flat Mine

We locals have always framed the controversy over the reopening of Copper Flat Mine as an issue of water and jobs.  But now, a third factor has entered the conflict.

In 2017, President Trump issued an executive order (13817) which defined “critical minerals.”  It addressed a presumed supply chain problem caused by not only the fact that many of these minerals were imported but also by the fact that mining in this country was hampered by “permitting delays; and the potential for protracted litigation regarding permits that are issued.”

The order intended, among other things, to increase “private-sector domestic exploration [and] production.”  It declared that “[i]t shall be the policy of the Federal government to … increase activity at all levels of the supply chain, including exploration, mining, …critical minerals” and “streamlining, leasing, and permitting processes to expedite exploration, production, processing … of critical minerals,” and it so ordered.

Since the first World War, critical minerals have been designated and stockpiled, almost always in the context of war and possible shortages of needed supplies (including foodstuffs in 1939).  Executive Order 13817, though mentioning the military as beneficiaries, decidedly pushed towards an economic intent, floating the phrase “economic security” in the context of critical minerals.  It seems to have been part of an economic war against China, and it prepared for the contingency of military war.

A few months ago, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which magnifies the intent of Executive Order 13817.  Critical minerals are now seen as necessary for the transition to a greener world.

As a result, in early December a team of geologists from the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources and of students at New Mexico Tech in Socorro partnered with the US Geological Survey to investigate the presence of critical minerals at Copper Flat Mine.

The team was co-led by Senior Economic Geologist Virginia McLemore, a specialist on the mining industry who has led tours and given seminars at the mine, who has published a mineral study of Copper Flat deposits, a study of the pitlake waters at Copper Flat, and several studies on the location of critical minerals in New Mexico.  The group took mineral samples from mine waste and tailings as well as water and biological samples and now awaits the results of laboratory analysis.

Several of the 50 minerals on the present critical list have been found in studies of water quality at the mine: aluminum, manganese, cadmium;  so, probably these are in the ground there.  Also, tellurium might be present since it is found in porphyry copper/molybdenum deposits (which is Copper Flat).  Tellurium is used in metal alloys, in solar cells, in making CDs and DVDs, and it is quite toxic.  Whether any of these minerals exist in sufficient quantity to be mined will depend on New Mexico Copper Corporation’s financial status and its access to investment moneys.  But even if it does not mine any of these minerals, their lawyers will likely use the presence of critical minerals to demonstrate that mining Copper Flat benefits public welfare in the water transfer hearing.