Annual Report 3 - New Mexico - Energy, Minerals and Natural ...

Copar Pumice Company ceased pumice production at the El Cajete Mine in late 2007 upon expiration of its mining
permit with the U.S. Forest Service. The mine is currently in the process of being reclaimed. Pumice processing at
Copar’s Española and San Ysidro plants was also halted.
In response to a lower demand for cement, GCC Rio Grande suspended operations at its limestone quarry and
Portland Cement plant in Tijeras for over a month in summer 2009.
In February 2010, American Gypsum suspended operations at the Bernalillo wallboard plant due to a reduction in
demand for wallboard. Of the Bernalillo plant’s 70 employees, 46 have been transferred to the Albuquerque plant; a
skeleton staff remains at Bernalillo to maintain the equipment.
New Mexico remains the leading state for the production of perlite and zeolite and is one of the main producers of
pumice. Zeolite is produced at St. Cloud’s Zeolite Mine and Mill in Sierra County. Active perlite operations include
Dicaperl Minerals’ Socorro property and Harborlite’s No Agua facilities. Pumice operations include CR Minerals’
Rocky Mountain Mine and Ohkay Owingeh Mill; Urban Trucking and Excavating’s Cochiti Pumice Pit; and Utility
Block’s U.S. Forest Service Mine. Humate properties include Rammsco’s Eagle Mesa Mine; Horizon Ag-Products’
San Luis Mine and Cuba Mill; Mesa Verde Resources’ Star Lake Mine and San Ysidro Mill; Menefee Mining’s Star
Lake Mine and Menefee Mill; and U-Mate International’s U-Mate Mine. Active salt operations include United Salt’s
Lake Mine and Carlsbad Plant; and New Mexico Salt & Minerals’ Carlsbad operations. Brick and masonry block
are produced at American Eagle Brick Company’s Eagle Mill; Crego Block’s Albuquerque block plant; Hoffman
Enterprises’ Kinney Brick Mill; and Utility Block’s Albuquerque Mill. Gypsum mines and processing facilities include
Eagle Materials’ White Mesa Mine and Albuquerque and Bernalillo wallboard plants; Alley Mining’s Alley mine; and
Schneider Welding’s Keystone No. 1 Mine. Other major industrial mineral properties in New Mexico include: GCC
Rio Grande’s Tijeras cement plant; New Mexico Travertine’s Belen plant; and Preece Enterprises’ Rainbow calcite
mine.
During 2009 and 2010, the Mining Act Reclamation Program oversaw one exploration permit for specimen
fluorspar in Socorro County, one exploration permit for turquoise in Grant County and three exploration permits for
humate in McKinley County.
STONE AND AGGREGATE: Stone and aggregate, which includes construction sand and gravel, is
a subset of industrial minerals. Construction sand and gravel is one of the most accessible natural resources and a
major basic raw material. The number of active aggregate and stone mines remained constant in 2009 with 154 active
operations. The number of stone and aggregate mines on standby status also remained steady at 40 operations.
Stone and aggregate production value increased 8.4 percent to $110.8 million in 2009. Production quantity dropped
to 13.5 million short tons, a 19.1 percent decrease (Figure 10). Employment decreased 6.1 percent to 901 workers
and payroll decreased 39.5 percent to $16.9 million in 2009. Reclamation employment decreased to 61 workers.
Table 4 details the production and production value of the different stone and aggregate commodities produced in
the state.
ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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