New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

The Buckhorn zeolite deposit, discovered in 1962, is a source of high-grade clinoptilolite. The deposit contains two zeolitic air-fall tuffs exposed on the west side of Duck Creek Valley. They are primarily in secs. 3, 4, 9, 10, 15, and 16, T. 15 S., R. 18 W., about 1 mile south of Buckhorn, Grant County, New Mexico. The zeolitic tuffs are interbedded with green and brown mudstone of the Plio-Pleistocene Cactus Flatbeds of the
upper part of the Gila Conglomerate. The lower tuff varies from 3-5 feet thick and contains up to 90% clinoptilolite. The upper tuff, 20 feet above the lower tuff, is consistently 1 foot thick, and contains over 60% clinoptilolite.

Clinoptilolite characteristically has a high cation-exchange capacity (CEC). It has great potential for treatment of municipal, industrial, and agricultural waste waters because of its high selectivity for ammonium ions. Clinoptilolite has many potential applications in agriculture and aquaculture based on its high CEC. The Buckhorn zeolitic tuffs exhibit significant lateral grade and chemical variability and relatively high but variable CEC and adsorption capacity. Commercial exploitation of the zeolite would require stringent quality controls during extraction, and possibly, blending.

Double Eagle Petroleum and Mining Company acquired a portion of the Buckhorn deposit in 1974. They produced a small tonnage of sized clinoptilolite for sewage denitrification in advanced waste-water treatment plants. Leonard Minerals Company acquired a portion of the deposit in 1977. Zeo-International leased Double Eagle's property in 1985, and market development is underway prior to clinoptilolite production.