Mine wastes in new mexicoproject period: 8 1 2024 through 7 31 2026AWARD purose:1. Inventory mills, tailings, slags, ORE stockpiles, and smelters in new mexico, approximately 100 mine FEATURES2

This Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) under the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (CFDA 15.073) provides $318,535.57 in funding to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech) to conduct the following activities over a 2-year period from August 1, 2024 to July 31, 2026:

1. Inventory approximately 100 mine waste sites (mills, tailings, slags, and smelters) across New Mexico and populate a USGS USMIN ArcGIS Pro database with the location data.

2. Collect and characterize approximately 155 samples of mine wastes from the inventoried sites, analyzing the mineralogy, chemistry, and paste pH.

3. Attend a USGS workshop on mine waste related to this project.

The intended beneficiaries of this project include the USGS USMIN program, state and federal government decision makers, mining companies, and the general public. This award supports the USGS's broader initiative to map and assess critical mineral resources across the United States.

Populate a USGS usmin arcgis pro database that documents the location of solid mine waste materials from these nonfuel processing sites in new MEXICO3. Characterize stock piles, mills, tailings, slags, and smelter wastes in new MEXICO4. Attend USGS workshopactivities to be performed:priority 1 mine waste inventory in new mexico:1. The recipient will first populate records for five mine waste mills, tailings, slags, and smelters to calibrate data entry and submit that to the usmin project personnel to assure the data are in the proper standard format.2. Usmin will then check the initial five records and provide feedback to the states on those records, noting which fields are populated correctly, and which fields need to be corrected. This will assure that any questions or issues are addressed at the beginning of the project before significant time and resources are expended.3. The recipient will continue with the inventory of mills, tailings, slags, and smelters in new mexico, approximately 50 sites. This year 2 of this inventory and we expect the total number of features inventoried to be approximately 100.priority 2: mine waste characterization in new mexico:1. The recipient will collect approximately 155 samples of mine wastes from mine features throughout new mexico according to USGS protocols.2. The recipient will submit samples to USGS laboratory.3. The recipient will characterize the mine wastes (mineralogy, chemistry, paste PH).4. Final technical reportpriority 3: attend USGS workshopdeliverables and expected outcomes:priority 1: mine waste inventory in new mexico:1. 50 records or more that have been populated according to the USGS quality control 2. All records will be submitted as a single arcgis database to