New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

Industrial minerals consist of a large number of nonmetallic, nonfuel, nongem materials that can be solid, liquid, or gas; that can be natural or man-made; and that are used for their physical and/or chemical properties. The list stretches literally from A (aggregates) to Z (zeolites). In New Mexico, the value of industrial minerals ranks a distant third behind oil and gas and copper, but still accounts for about 8-10% of the value of the state's natural resource production, which is currently about $5-6 billion annually.

Aggregate (both sand and gravel and crushed stone) continues to be New Mexico's largest-volume industrial mineral product. Pits and quarries are present in all of the state's counties but Harding County. In value, it follows potash. In 1996, the average cost of a ton of gravel purchases at an Albuquerque quarry was $2.65. Because transport is a major cost of aggregate that same ton of gravel delivered to a site 50 miles away was $6.55.

Cement is produced at the state's only cement plant at Tijeras east of Albuquerque. The limestone is quarried locally. Alumina is supplied from bottom ash generated at the Prewitt power plant near Grants. Iron comes from byproduct magnetite produced by copper mills in Grant County. Gypsum comes from White Mesa near San Ysidro northwest of Bernalillo.

Although gypsum is exposed in many places in New Mexico, sizeable production is limited to White Mesa near San Ysidro in Sandoval County. This mine principally supplies a wallboard plant near Bemalillo, in addition to the cement plant at Tijeras.

Humates are humic acid-rich carbonaceous shales, claystones, or weathered coal. In New Mexico, humate is mined from Cretaceous coal-bearing sedimentary rocks in the northwest part of the state. It is processed in state and shipped mostly out of state and used principally to replenish impoverished organic-poor soils.

Muscovite mica is produced from Precambrian mica schist in the Picuris Range about 20 mi south of Taos. This is the only mica mine east of the Appalachian Mountains. White muscovite mica is used in joint compounds, paint, oil well drilling muds, roofing, rubber, and cosmetics.

With three very large perlite mines and one small one, New Mexico ranks first nationally in perlite production. Two mines are in north-central part of the state at No Agua Peaks about 20 mi south of the Colorado border, one is about 8 mi northeast of Grants, and the last is about 1 mi southwest of Socorro. Together these mines quarry about 80% of the nation's production of perlite. All production is shipped out of state and expanded into a lightweight, nonflammable, cellular aggregate that is chemically inert and has high-insulating ability.

New Mexico, the leading domestic producer of potash, is responsible for about 85% of the total national output. Three different products are produced by the two remaining operations east of Carlsbad. The main product is sylvite (KCl), which contains about 63% K₂O by weight, followed by langbeinite (K₂SO₄.2MgSO₄) with about 23% K₂O, and by an artificial potassium sulfate product (K2SO4) with about 54% K₂O. In 1995, the average price for a short ton of potash product was $173.49.

New Mexico ranks second in the nation in the production of pumice. Mines are on the east and south flanks of the Jemez Mountains in the north-central part of the state. Premium-grade pumice (lumps greater than 1.9 cm) demands higher prices and is used to prepare stonewashed fabrics. Smaller-lump ore is used as lightweight aggregate in concrete blocks and other building products, abrasives, absorbents in potting soils, loose-fill insulation, fillers, and filter media.

Zeolite is produced at a mine south of the old mining district of Winston, about 30 mi west of Truth or Consequences. Ore with 50-85% clinoptilolite is quarried, crushed, and screened for use as animal bedding and in feed, in water-filtration systems, and environmental cleanup products.

New Mexico produces many other industrial minerals, but of smaller value and/or in smaller volumes. They include brick, clay, lime, shale, salt, silica flux, and stone. Still others, notably barite, feldspar, and fluorite, are not produced now but were in the past.