Florida Mountains wilderness study area captured Feb. 1, 2010. A proposed mine in the foothills of the Florida Mountains outside of Deming hit a snag, as a federal district judge sent part of the plan back to the federal government for additional review. (Courtesy of Bureau of Land Management / Bob Wick)
A New Mexico federal district judge wants the Bureau of Land Management to correct part of a plan for a proposed mine in the Florida Mountains located southeast of Deming in Luna County.
In an Aug. 27 order, Judge James Browning found the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to determine how waste from a future magnesium milling operation might impact the area’s water quality.
Browning’s ruling sends the environment impact statement back to the Bureau of Land Management’s Las Cruces office to identify and evaluate what threats the sludge poses to water quality, lay out how it may be managed, and detail why the milling site should be approved “despite the waste.”
The judge wrote that the federal government did not have a proposal for “storage, control or disposal” for more than 2,300 tons of magnesium sludge – one of the waste products from mining.
The sludge contains toxic materials which pose a threat to surface water and underground aquifers, according to citations in the order.
“In sum, the BLM acted arbitrarily and capriciously in failing to take a hard look at the water quality impacts related to the Mining Project’s processing mill,” Browning wrote.
The ruling from the federal district court in New Mexico only supported one of the objections raised by community and environmental nonprofits in a lawsuit against the mine, but upheld the majority of the mining plan.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Friends of the Floridas, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, WildEarth Guardians, Gila Resources Information Project and Amigos Bravos.
The ruling rejected federal arguments that the Bureau of Land Management did not have to review issues, such as water quality, because of existing state regulations, said Sally Paez, one of the attorneys for New Mexico Wilderness Alliance in a news release.
“The court’s ruling is an important step toward protecting the Florida Mountains and surrounding public lands, which are biologically diverse and culturally significant,” Paez said in a news release.
Brian Hires, a Bureau of Land Management spokesperson, declined to comment Tuesday, citing the ongoing litigation. Hires would not say if officials were considering an appeal of the ruling, and did not outline the next steps in the process for the federal land management agency.
The proposed mine and concerns in Luna County
In 2017, American Magnesium, a mining company based in Elephant Butte, proposed a dolomite magnesium quarry on 44 acres of federal land in the Florida Mountains with additional milling and processing facilities. The proposal is based on a 1957 study by the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
American Magnesium claims that the exposed dolomite magnesium in the Florida foothills would produce more than 30,000 tons of magnesium per year. It would also produce “hundreds of millions of tons” of portland cement, a byproduct of mining, according to the company.
On the American Magnesium website, the company claims its quarry would provide 18 jobs, and 25 trucking jobs and that the milling complex would provide an unknown number of jobs, listing hundreds to thousands.
Local opposition to the project has raised questions about the use of roads, mining and milling processes. There are also concerns that the project’s environmental assessment falls short of federal regulations, failing to account for water and air pollution concerns, which groups raised in the lawsuit.
Wes Light, president of the Friends of the Floridas, said he hopes for more public engagement due to Judge Browning’s order.
“Local folks are worried about the impacts of the ore processing, which the BLM did not adequately review,” Light said in a statement.
Friends of the Floridas is a Deming grassroots group created to protect the area’s public lands, Light said his group will be watching what’s next for the mine proposal.
“We expect a full public analysis of these impacts when the BLM complies with the Court’s order,” he said. “There should be no more mystery about where the wastes from this mine will end up.”