Bulletin 87—Mineral and water resources of New Mexico

Report for the U.S. Senate, compiled in cooperation with U.S. Geological Survey, State Engineer of New Mexico, New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission, and U.S. Bureau of Mines for the US Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 1965, reprinted 1982, 437 pp, 56 tables, 89 figs. Includes Circular 71 as pp. 100–116.

This report summarizes the mineral and water resources of NM. The use, manner of occurrences, distribution, and outlook for all known mineral commodities in the state are discussed in separate chapters. Where available, statistics on the production of mineral commodities are summarized. The mineral industry and the geology of the state are outlined briefly in an introductory section.

The purpose of this report is to present an objective appraisal of the resources of NM based on information now available, although new discoveries and changes in economic conditions may alter some of the conclusions reached. Treatment of each commodity is necessarily brief, but comprehensive bibliographies are included for the convenience of those who may wish to inquire further into the mineral and water resources of NM.

In this report the term resources applies to materials in the ground that are known to be minable; materials that may come into demand and become minable in the future, and water. Reserves are materials that may or may not be completely explored but may be quantitatively estimated and are considered to be economically exploitable at the time of the estimate. Reserves fluctuate because they are dependent on economic conditions, technologic factors, and available information. A low reserve figure does not necessarily mean that the resource is near exhaustion. It may indicate exploration is lacking or that a depressed market has lowered the value of the commodity to the point where the material can no longer be considered economically exploitable. Ore is mineral material that may be mined at a profit. Protore, used in some parts of this report, is a mineral material that may not be mined at a profit under present economic or technologic conditions.