New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

This talk reviews closures of abandoned mines during the past decade in New Mexico, and will focus on the mineral-specimen-producing localities. The reasons for the closures and the types of closures will be examined. The localities affected by the closures and the minerals that were produced in these localities will also be highlighted.

New Mexico's mining activities go back more than 900 years, beginning with the prehistoric mining done by the Native Americans, continuing with the mining of the Spanish beginning in the 1600s and greatly increased with American miners seeking gold in 1828. Mining in New Mexico has been a major component of the history and growth of the economy of New Mexico for over 175 years and continues to be a vital component of New Mexico's economy today. The loss of the mining heritage accompanying the mine closures will be discussed.

The goals of the New Mexico Abandoned Mine Land Program will be presented along with a brief explanation of its history and funding status. The past and current closures by the New Mexico Abandoned Mine Land Program will be presented along with the criteria used to select the localities for closure.

A Bureau of Land Management map of the mine closures in New Mexico including the recent mine closures will be presented along with photos of the types of minerals produced in these localities. Historically some of these localities produced museum quality specimens. Additional information provided by current New Mexico collectors concerning other known closures by private and corporate groups is included in this talk.