Mt Taylor Mine Fact Sheet July 2015
Mt Taylor is a Zombie mine – it is not operating and it is not being cleaned up.
• Mine operated for only 8 years and stopped in 1990.
• Mine has neither produced uranium nor reclaimed since then.
• NM Mining and Minerals Division must consider the fact that the only economically viable activity at the Mt Taylor Mine during the period of standby is reclamation activities.
• Cleaning up uranium tailings means jobs in our communities.
Environmental Protections
• Rio Grande Resources has postponed cleanup by continuing to request Standby Permits including its most recent request in 2014 for their final Standby Permit and at the same time a New Standby Permit – Return to Operations.
• Standby Permits allow RGR to postpone cleanup and reclamation making the pollution and contamination worse and depriving the community of the only economic development opportunity the mine will have to offer for years and perhaps ever.
Sacred Sites
• Significant and irreparable cultural and religious damages have resulted from the failure of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department to consult with the nineteen Pueblos, and other affected tribes prior to determine probable impacts to regional groundwater, the La Jara and San Mateo Creek drainage areas, and cultural properties resulting from exploratory drilling and past uranium mining.
