New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting & Ft. Stanton Cave Conference — Abstracts

The Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks National Monument is a recently established national monument near Las Cruces, New Mexico and is administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The NM State Land Office (SLO) is requesting a transfer of NM state lands located in the monument for other BLM lands located in southwestern NM. In order for this land exchange to occur, the mineral-resource potential of these parcels must be established, which is the current work of the authors and the focus of this project. The mineral-resource potential is an area of the probability that a mineral will occur in enough quantity so that it can be extracted economically under current or future economic conditions. It includes the occurrence of undiscovered concentrations of metals, nonmetals, industrial materials, and energy resources. It is a measure of the potential of occurrence, not a measure of quantities of mineral resources. Evaluating mineral resource potential is enhanced by the use of GIS systems such as ESRI ArcMap, previous literature, and other means. Many parcels have high potential for aggregate, and some have various levels of potential for metals, industrial minerals, and other commodities. Additionally, some parcels have no mineral resource potential.