The peaceful slopes of Wind Mountain on Otero Mesa are gravely
threatened by recent mining claims staked by Colorado-based
Geovic Mining Corporation. Many of these are within an existing
Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) and proposed
wilderness. Not only would this pristine area be turned into a
cratered landscape of pits and tailings–leaching chemicals from
the mining and refinement processes could also irreversibly
contaminate the large freshwater aquifer under Otero Mesa.
Exploratory drilling could begin sometime in July, when Geovic
will take up to 10 core samples 50 to 200 feet deep in search of
rare earth minerals. A 2010 study by the United States
Geological Survey, followed up by a New Mexico Tech University
report, indicate that Wind Mountain, Black Mountain and other
areas in the Cornudas Range of Otero Mesa contain deposits of
eudialyte, a substrate mineral which can be refined to yield
rare earth elements (REE). The deposit is estimated at 10-30% of
the rock that covers the mountains,