Patented public land in New Mexico
Jump to: Patent Purchasers | Patents Listed by Decade | Pending Patents | Claims | Mines | Map
In New Mexico the hardrock mining industry has acquired the title to an estimated 97,765 acres of land previously owned by the public and rich in gold, silver, and other precious metals and minerals. Although a moratorium on new mining "patents" - conversion of public lands to private - has been in place since 1994, the government continues to grant pending requests. Since 2000, 15,600 acres of public lands across 12 western states have been converted to private ownership, for a price capped at $5 per acre in 1872. See who has gained title to lands since 1980, 1990, or 2000.
| Quick facts about patented lands in New Mexico |
|---|
|
• Acres of federal land, previously public, titled the mining industry: 97,765 • Companies and individuals granted patents, total: 1,388 • Dollars paid for each acre: $2.50 or $5 • Land area given away since 1990: 100 acres • Royalties paid to federal government from mines on patented public land: $0 |
EWG analysis of data compiled by the Bureau of Land Management. |
Top Mining Patent Purchasers in New Mexico Ranked by Acres Patented
Companies have been consolidated to account for subsidiaries. View this table without consolidation.
| Company/Individual | Headquarters | Number of Patents | Estimated Acreage | Patent Date(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burro Mountain Copper Co | unknown | 46 | 2,300 | 1906 to 1920 |
| 2 | David H Moffat Jr | unknown | 43 | 2,150 | 1883 |
| 3 | Rolla Wells | unknown | 42 | 2,100 | 1891 to 1899 |
| 4 | Rio Tinto Limited | World HQ in Australia | 31 | 1,550 | 1935 to 1978 |
| 5 | Fauquier Co | unknown | 28 | 1,400 | 1914 to 1925 |
| 6 | 85 Mining Company | unknown | 26 | 1,300 | 1916 to 1922 |
| 7 | Phelps Dodge Mining Co | Phoenix, AZ | 25 | 1,225 | 1918 to 1983 |
| 8 | Ideal Basic Ind | Denver, CO | 3 | 958 | 1979 to 1986 |
| 9 | Azure Mining Co | unknown | 19 | 950 | 1895 to 1922 |
| 10 | Hanover Copper Co | unknown | 14 | 700 | 1918 to 1919 |
| See all patent purchasers in New Mexico | |||||
Counties in New Mexico Ranked by Acres Patented
| County | Number of Patents | Estimated Acreage | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grant County | 782 | 39,787 | details | map |
| 2 | Sierra County | 177 | 8,850 | details | map |
| 3 | Lincoln County | 147 | 7,700 | details | map |
| 4 | Socorro County | 136 | 7,100 | details | map |
| 5 | Hidalgo County | 101 | 5,125 | details | map |
| 6 | Santa Fe County | 77 | 4,200 | details | map |
| 7 | Catron County | 79 | 3,700 | details | map |
| 8 | Sandoval County | 48 | 3,200 | details | map |
| 9 | Dona Ana County | 54 | 3,170 | details | map |
| 10 | Taos County | 54 | 2,850 | details | map |
| See all counties | |||||
Examples of Mines in New Mexico
| Name of Mine | Location of Mine | Mine Status | Metal Mined | Owner or Parent Company of Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crownpoint | Mckinley County, NM | Proposed | Uranium | Hydro Resources |
| Chino Copper Mine | Grant County, NM | Suspended | Copper Ore | Phelps Dodge |
| Continental | Grant County, NM | Suspended | Copper Ore | Phelps Dodge |
| Tyrone Copper (sx-ew) Mine | Grant County, NM | Open | Copper Ore | Phelps Dodge |
| Questa Molybdenum Mine | Taos County, NM | Open | Molybdenum | Molycorp |
Source: EWG analysis.
Source: EWG analysis of Bureau of Land Management's Land and Mineral Records 2000 (LR2000) data system. For claims, acreages are estimated based on maximum allowable size of claims. For patents, acreages are taken directly from the LR2000 database where available, and are estimated based on maximum allowable size of claim that preceded the patent where acreages are not noted in LR2000. All notices are assumed to be five acres in size, and the size of plans are calculated directly as the size of the land represented by the legal land description in the LR2000 database. The acreages we estimate through these methods would tend to overestimate the actual amount. We welcome corrections here, and would welcome a federal data management system that included the acreages involved in these important federal land transactions.