districts
mining
Principal
ofNewMexico
l-;,;iaN;
l^
.l.r?-
Eddy County
InternationalMineral
and Chemicals
sec.1, 12;T.225., R.29E.
Corporation
PotashCompany
sec.4, T. 20 S., R. 30E.
of America
Amax Chemical
sec.9, T. 19S., R. 30E.
Corporation
Kerr-McGeeChemical
sec.4,T.21 S., R. 3l E.
Corporation
Chemical
Mississippi
sec.12,13;T. 2l S., R. 29E.
Corporation
Duval Corporation
(NashDraw)
sec.33,34;T.225., R. 30E.
Duval Corporation
(NorthMine)
sec.13,T. 20S., R. 30E.
Lea County
National Potash
sec.18,T. 20S., R. 32E'
Company
Principal commodities.' Potassium
minerals
Ore deposits: The Upper Permian
Salado Formation contains economic potassium dePosits near
Carlsbad.This formation rangesin
thicknessto about 2,450 ft, and is
madeup of halite rock, argillaceous
halite rock, sulfate rock (largelY
anhydriteand polyhalite),and finegrainedclasticrocks such as sandstone,siltstone,and claystone.The
flat-lying.
bedsareessentially
The potassium ore minerals
sylviteand langbeiniteare deposited
bedsand
within certainhalite-clastic
concentratedin the McNutt Potash
zone within the middle memberof
the Salado.Here. 1l ore zoneshave
aAlbuquerque
aSocorro
i
! sre
puRRot
SANTA
I RITA
2
rtc"'l*"
.o*.."o0 | I
i
l-PnrNctpnr MTNINcDrsrRrcrsor Nrw
;i;";
Mrxrc<).
1 2w.
Mining districts
l. Carlsbad
Location: Eddy and Lea Counties
Companyand location:
IYORK CANYON
PARK
VERMEJO
.rrT'o
A M B R O S ILAA K E
TX
Laredo,
Geologist,
Consulting
A Mardirosian,
byCharles
Introduction
been identified over a vertical
distanceof about 80 ft. BY far, the
MexNew
of
The largermining districts
greatest production is from the
ico as listed in this report include those
lowerpart-the first ore zone'
with a cumulativeproductiongreaterthan
All mine workings are under$100million to 1978.The dollar value is
ground:
vertical shafts range in
production
redata
basedmainly on mine
depth from 650 to 1,750ft roomportedby the U.S. Bureauof Minesin the
and-pillarworkings are 5 to 6% ft
MineralsYearbooks.and data from comhigh(Austin,1976).
panyannualreportsto shareholders.
New Mexico has sevenmining districts
Valueof production:
(fig. l) that have producedgreaterthan
$2,100,716,000
r94l-19't3
$100 million in metals and non-metals:
653,429,000
1974-19'7'7
These four metal-mining districts and
Total l94l-197'linclusive $2,754,145'000
threenon-metallicdistrictsare listed and
described below, beginning with the 2. SantaRita
largest.
Location: Grant CountY,T. 17S., R.
7
:
to
Principal mine.' Chino
Principal commodities.'Copper' Also
molybdenum,gold, silver.
Ore deposits.' Copper, the principal
commodity of the Chino oPen-Pit
mine, is depositedin Pennsylvanian
limestonesand shales,Cretaceous 3.
and shales,diorite sills,
sandstones
Tertiary quartz-monzonite Porphyry of the SantaRita stock, and
Tertiary quartz-monzonite Porphyry and granodiorite PorPhYrY
dikes. Two main types of ore are
mined: the enriched "blanket"
deposit in which chalcociteis the
main ore mineral (with minor
amounts of covellite and chalcopyriie). Chalcociteis disseminated
as veins and veinlets, discrete
grains,coatingson pyrite (which is
abundant), and rePlacement of
chalcopyrite.The secondtype is the
pyrometasomatic
limestonereplacement ore with little or no enrichment. Chalcopyrite,the main ore
mineral, is accompaniedbY quantities of magnetite,pYrite, qvartz,
and a suite of calc-silicateminerals
including garnet, epidote,chlorite,
pyroxenes,and amphiboles.
Total productionof coPPermetal
from the Chino mine was 53,193
tons in 1975, 57,202tons in 1976,
and57.263tonsin 1977.
t9'10-19'7'7
I,000
630,21
(copperonly)
Molybdenumproducedto
61.293,000
1975inclusive
Total productionto 1978 $2'089'048'000
Recent developments.'A new precipitate Plant was brought on line at
the new LamPbrightwastedumPto
recovercopperfrom wastematerial'
AmbrosiaLake
Location: McKinleYCountY
CompanY,mine, and location: Numerous mineslocatedmainlYin T. 13'
14N., R. 8, 9, 10W. PrinciPalcompaniesare Gulf Mineral Resources
-ompany, Kerr-McGee Nuclear
Corporation, Ranchers ExPloration and DevelopmentCorporation'
ReserveOil and Mineral CorPoration, Todilto ExPlorationand Development CorPoration, United
Nuciear CorPoration, and United
Partners.
Nuclear-Homestake
Principal commodities.' Uranium,
molybdenum,vanadium.
Ore deposits.'Uranium ore minerals
are dePositedmainlY in the Westwater CanYon Member, and less
abundantlY in the BrushY Basin
Member of the JurassicMorrison
Formation. Other host formations
include the JurassicTodilto Limestone and the CretaceousDakota
Sandstone.
The sandstonehost rocks are
crossbedded,
PoorlYsorted,and arkosic continental deposits,locally
containing abundant organic
debris-a PrimarY control or uraVatueof production: All metals
nium deposition-thus associating
$223'079'000
To1930
41,197,000
1930-1939
the organic matter with uranium.
l'74,721,0m
1940-1949
Principaluraniummaterialsarecof36r,229,N0
1950-1959
l:F
finite anduraninite.
597,312,0N
19ffi-r969
NewMexico GeologY
August 1979
37
Valueof production:
5. Laguna
Volueof production:
l95l-1975
inclusive
141,867,500lbs
U.O,
Location: Valencia County, T. 10,
1969
(est.)
$ 8,325,000
l95l-1975
inclusive 1,192,500
lbsV:O,
l l N . ,R . 5 W .
1970_19'73
72,889,000
1974-1977
tr4,378,M(est.)
Molybdenum has been recovered
Company:The AnacondaCompany,a
Total
1969-1977
from uranium ores by Kerr-McGee
subsidiary of Atlantic Richfield
inclusive
$195.i92.000
NuclearCorporationfor more than
Company.
l5 years.Productionfiguresare not
Principal mine.' Jackpile-Paguate
availablefor molybdenum.
Principal commodities.' Uranium, 7. York Canyon-Vermejo
Park
Market value of cumulativeprovanadium
Location: Colfax County,T. 3l N., R.
duction for the AmbrosiaLake disOre deposits.'Uranium is depositedin
l9 E.
trict to 1975inclusiveis estimatedat
the Jackpile Sandstone of the
Company: Kaiser SteelCorporation, a
$1,050,000,000.
BrushyBasinMemberof the Jurassubsidiary(56.8 percent)of Kaiser
sic Morrison Formation.Numerous
IndustriesCorporation.
controls influence deposition of
Principal mines: York Canyon; Ver4. Big Burro
uranium, most significantly, the
mejo Park
Locotion: Grant County, T. 19 S., R.
thicknessof host sandstone.Nearly
Principal commodity: Coal
l5 w.
all the ore is developedwhere the
Ore deposits.'Underground and surCompany:PhelpsDodgeCorporation
sandstone
is
100
to
200
ft
thick.
face mining methods are used at
Principal mine: Tyrone
Other controlling factors include
York CanyonnearVermejoPark to
Principal commodities..Copper. Also
the presenceof abundant organic
recover coal from the 6- to 7-ftgold and silver.
debris,mudstonelayersand lenses,
thick York Canyon coal bed-an
Ore deposifs.. Copper minerals are
beddingplanes,facieschanges,and
essentiallyflat-lying bed within the
depositedin a Tertiary-Cretaceous
intraformational faults. Principal
PaleoceneRaton Formation. The
quartz-monzoniteporphyry lacco_
uranium mineralsare uraniniteand
mine, developedby four entries,
lith underlying precambriangran_
coffinite.
usesboth continuousand longwall
ites and dikes of varying composiProduction: 1952-197
5 inclusive,more
miningmethods.
tions intruded within the granites.
than 70 million pounds of UrO,
The West York Canyon strip
The ore body forms an enriched
(author's estimate), and 31,000
mine
also producescoal from this
blanket depositin which chalcocite
poundsof V2O5,with a total value
bed, where overburden ranging
and covellite are the main ore
of approximatelyg5I 0,300,000.
from 30 to 240 ft thick is removed
minerals,with chalcociteby far the
by
bulldozersand a 3O-cubicyard
most important. These secondarv
walking
dragline with a 27S-ft
minerals replace pyrite, chalcoboom.
pyrite, and sphalerite. The ore 6. Fruitland
Location: SanJuan County, T. 29 N.,
Both minesproducehigh-quality
minerals fill fractures and are
R
.
1
5
W
.
coking
coal containing0.5 percent
disseminatedadjacentto the fracCompony:
Utah
International,
a
subsulfur,
14.5percentash, and yieldtures.
sidiaryof GeneralElectricCorporaing 12,520Btu per pound. ProducThe Tyrone open-pit mine is the
tion
tion from both minesin 1976,about
largestin New Mexico in terms of
Principal
mine.'NavajoStrip mine
1,000,000
shorttons,wasshippedto
annualproductionof coppermetal:
Principal
commodity:
Coal
the
Kaiser
steel mill at Fontana,
75,400tonsin 1975,91,600tonsin
Ore deposits; The Navajo strip mine
California (Kaiser Steel Corpora1976, and 84,700 tons in 1977
producescoal from the lower part
tion, 1976).
(Kolessar,1970).
of the Upper CretaceousFruitland
Value of production (author's estiFormation. The Fruitland FormaOre grade:
mate):
tion is 200 to 500 ft thick and inYear
Copper in ore
1968-1970 $ 21,600,000
cludes sandstone. carbonaceous
r9'71_t9'72
1972
18,900,000
0.89percent
t973
1973
l 3,750,000
0.87
shale, and coal. Coal beds at the
t974
1974
16,250,000
0.83
mine range from 5 to 15 ft thick,
1975
r91s
I 8,750,000
0.81
with
overburden
ranging
from 20 to
t9'76
1976
26,100,000
0.82
120ft. The coal is subbituminousin
t977
197',t
20,t98,60
0.78
rank, averaging0.8 percentsulfur,
Total 1968-1977
inclusive
Valueof production:
20 percentash, and yielding about
$135,548,000
9,500Btu perpound.
rn4-r929 $ 16,725,000
Recentdevelopmenls.'The York Can1930-1940
The Navajo mine is one of the
yon mine is capableof producing
l94l-1950
(est.)
4,688,000
largest coal mines in the U.S. in
about 1,100,000tons of cokingcoal
l95l-t968
termsof annualrate of production:
1969-1977 832,118,@0(copperonly)
annually by underground mining
In 1976 and 1977,7,011,000and
Total 1904-19'17
methods.Its coal preparationplant
6,745,000short tons of coal were
inclusive
$853,511,000
was expanded,in 1976to an annual
shipped.The entireoutput of coalis
capacityof 1,500,000tons. A strip
Recent developmenfs: In l97l Tyrone
delivered to the Four Corners
mine
capableof producing 500,000
became Phelps Dodge Corporapowerplant adjacent to the mine.
tons of coal per year has been
tion's secondlargestopen-pit copThis plant has a capacity of
developed adjacent to the York
per minein termsof annualproduc2,085,W kilowatts and transmits
Canyon
mine.
tion, and maintainedthat position
electricity to energy users
through 1977.
throughoutthe southwestern
U.S.
(continuedon poge 48)
August 1979
New Mexico Geology