• The Chino Mines Company was awarded an "existing mining operation permit" for its Chino mine near Bayard, NM, even though the mine did not physically exist when the state Mining Act was passed in 1993, and still don't exist in 2001. The company contends that this permit should stand, as it is part of a mining complex that was permitted before 1993. The Law Center and our clients appealed the permit since the mines were not yet constructed when parts of the "existing mine" permit was issued. In 1999, the NM Mining Commission requested the parties to try to negotiate a stipulation of facts so that a hearing can be heard on our clients' claims. Failure of the Mining Commission to repeal the permit will deal a serious blow to the effectiveness of the Mining Act.
  
  
• The Law Center also represented Local 890 in a discharge plan renewal proceeding involving the Chino Mine under the New Mexico Water Quality Act. Local 890's primary concern was a pair of tailings slurry lines that leaked at least once each year since they were built in 1982. The leaks were estimated to have dumped 3.5 million gallons-the equivalent of four and half Olympic size swimming pools-of tailings slurry onto the ground and into nearby Whitewater Creek. Outcome: In 1998, the Environment Department ruled that if the leaks were not significantly reduced in two years, Phelps Dodge Co. would be required to prepare a replacement plan.

Since 1997, the deadlines for filing these plans have been postponed numerous times; in fact the plan for PD's Continental Mine has been postponed yet again, although the permits for these three mines must be completed by the end of 2001. With these plans in hand, the New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division (MMD) will begin drafting mining permits for these operations, while the New Mexico Environment Department will draft a permit for the discharge of water from the mines. The Law Center, GRIP and other members of the Mining Act Network are concerned that these reclamation plans, which in many cases do not address the Mining Act's mandate to restore the sites to "self-sustaining ecosystem."

DO YOU KNOW WHERE COPPER COMES FROM?

Most copper mines in New Mexico use the leach mining process. In this process, large piles of dynamited ore are saturated with sulfuric acid. As the acid percolates through the pile, it leaches metals from the rock. This leach solution is then gathered and passed through vats of different solvents. Once this step is completed, the solution is subjected to an electric current which attracts the copper ions, creating pure copper. (Information courtesy of GRIP). The leach piles at Chino and Tyrone were built without liners before regulators required such barriers.