KC Counts speaks with Lloyd Moiola, environmental manager for New Mexico Abandoned Mine Land Program about projects across the state and specifically the award-winning work done at Community Pit No. 1. Here's a transcript of their conversation:
KC Counts:
Can I start by asking you what has changed over that time (Moiola’s 28 years with the program)?
Lloyd Moiola:
Primarily, we're both funded to work primarily on reclaiming abandoned coal mines as well as hard rock. But throughout the years, there's been several changes to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, which is the law that formed the AML programs throughout the country. And So our funding has changed. A big change that's happened was with the initiation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. So we receive a lot more money through that as well. And then we also receive quite a bit of money from the Bureau of Land Management to safeguard hard rock mines.
KC Counts:
Can you give me an idea of the scope of the work around New Mexico in terms of numbers? numbers or how many mines you'd be working on at any given time.
Lloyd Moiola:
Okay, well, we have several projects throughout the state between Silver City, Deming and Raton, New Mexico, and Gallup. So we work on a mixture of abandoned coal mines, both closing openings and reclaiming waste piles. We do a lot of work on hard rock mines, the old gold, silver, copper, lead mines throughout the state. So with this process, we basically have about 26,000 known abandoned mine features in New Mexico. And not all of those features would be worked on. Probably out of that 26,000 AML features, probably roughly 8,000 or 9,000 need to be safeguarded in some way. That's just for hard rock. And then we've got many areas of abandoned coal mines in need of reclamation.
KC Counts:
So why don't you talk a little bit about why those particular mines would need to be addressed and what are the harms if left alone?
Lloyd Moiola:
So many of the abandoned mine lands throughout New Mexico are located on public lands, especially the hard rock mines, including uranium. And most of those represent just safety hazards, fall hazards in shafts, or a lot of people go in the adits, which are horizontal openings, but when you walk inside, there can be rock falls, there can be dangerous gases. There can also be interior openings that you can fall through. So they're very hazardous. And with, a lot of these mines used to be pretty remote, but with development in the last 30 years around public lands, there's a lot of residential areas very close to abandoned mine workings. And so, there's a lot more accessibility to some of these mining districts than there was in the past.
KC Counts:
Well, let's talk a little bit about an area in southern New Mexico that's being recognized for the work that has been done there. I'd like to have you explain about the former rock quarry that is right outside the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument near the prehistoric trackways that has been awarded for the way it has been cared for.
Lloyd Moiola:
So this is a project that was completed by the Bureau of Land Management, and we requested they submit an Excellence in Reclamation Award for this work. Chris Teske with the Bureau of Land Management is the state program lead for abandoned mines, and he's based in Las Cruces. So the Las Cruces District Field Office is responsible for the contracting and the reclamation work that occurred at the community pit number one mine. So this quarry was active from 1969 through 2007. And it was basically a large quarry for building stone materials for residential and commercial structures. A lot of that rock was used in building walls and landscaping structures throughout the Las Cruces area. The BLM took over the site in 1994, I believe, to manage the permitting process. When the mine closed in 2007, reclamation did not occur. So the community pit opened up about 85 acres of land. And in that process, they also revealed a lot of the paleological, the red beds that are adjacent to the prehistoric trackway. So it's a very important paleontological resource. And when that was discovered, that was discovered before they opened the prehistoric trackway. So that led to halting some of the reclamation. Cost was a big issue. So the BLM, basically had to take over and become responsibility for reclamation of about 50 acres of disturbed land.
KC Counts:
So this was a multi-phase project. Obviously it goes back some decades.
Lloyd Moiola:
Yes.
KC Counts:
Yeah. So tell us about what it meant to go from start to finish. What had to be done in order to be, call it a finished project and have it be an award-winning project?
Lloyd Moiola:
Okay. Well, so initially, I mean, the BLM had to complete their their NEPA analysis, because they're using federal funds, so they have to do both cultural resource work and biological investigations, and also investigate how this project could impact the public. So prior to construction, they initiated a lot of noise and noise assessments, because there's residential structures located within 1/2 a mile of the community pit. So they held a lot of public meetings. They did a lot of analysis, pre-construction that include photographing residences, setting up seismic monitors for preparation of the blast. This project involved a lot of blasting and it was going to impact the community with noise and vibration. So they wanted to make sure they were not going to impact local residences. So there was a lot of public outreach for transparency. And I believe many people allowed BLM to set up the seismic monitors on their properties so that during a blast afterward, they could go and monitor and redo photographic documentation to make sure nothing was impacted. So the pre-work included the NEPA studies and the noise and vibration analysis. Moving forward to the construction phase, this was a three-phase project. The first phase involved removal of about 100-foot layer of both limestone and red bed cap. Then the next phase went into regrading all the material and setting up erosion control structures. And the third phase was seeding. So the first phase with the blasting, they had to remove 100 feet of cap. So the blasting took place in 26 sequences. And after each blast, the material was graded off and they had paleontologists go and do a walkthrough to see if any new fossils were discovered with each successive blast and removal material. So the total material moved around and cleared off the surface was about 780,000 cubic yards of material. So it was a very large earth moving project.
KC Counts:
It's hard to even wrap your mind around.
Lloyd Moiola:
Yes, So, and it covers, so the actual reclamation area covered 50 acres. So it's a very large area of material removal, grading out, and blasting.
KC Counts:
And you talked about that final phase in terms of reseeding. So what is the ultimate goal for that area and what would people see now versus before?
Lloyd Moiola:
So, I mean, the ultimate goal of the project was to increase public safety for recreational use. And prior to the project, you know, there were 150 foot high walls, there were spoil piles, there were a lot of hazardous features. So The biggest part of the project with removal of the high walls and grading out all the material to lessen the slopes was done to prevent both safety hazards and erosion. Prior to this project, a lot of sediment was washing into the Rio Grande. So after the blasting phase, the regrading was initiated. They built a lot of erosion control structures, rock rundowns, one check dams, berms to just guide storm water. And the biggest part of that project was the extreme roughening. So they dug hundreds of like 4 foot wide pits that are 18 to 24 inches deep that'll trap water and create a great microclimate for the seed to grow. So in the final phase, the seeding process, they did use a helicopter. in a hopper to spread the seed over, not the entire area, because the top of the mountain is still solid bedrock, but they had about 20 acres of soil. So they did reseed that, and then they put mulch over that as well. So the goal is to have a native plant landscape in the areas where things will grow, and also to make sure there were no high walls and steep cliffs associated with the mining activity. so that the public, it receives a lot of public use.
KC Counts:
Can you say if there's a project elsewhere that has compared to this one in scope?
Lloyd Moiola:
Not quite in this scale. A lot of the work our program does in conjunction with BLM, we're working on smaller individual mine sites. We might close 100 openings, but each of those features may be we're working in 100 acre area, but on several features and disturbing maybe 50 feet around each one or something. So this was a large scale earth moving project. I guess the only thing I could compare the size of this, but without blasting is our coal reclamation projects where we have done geomorphic reclamation and reclaimed waste piles over like a half a mile area and recreated new stream channels and things like that. But for the BLM, I believe this was their largest reclamation project. And it's, this is more applicable. What was done here would be on the scale of like the Chino mine and Silver City and Tyrone. this at this scale, this is more on the scale of the active larger permit mines. So yeah.
KC Counts:
What can you say about any exciting finds during the process?
Lloyd Moiola:
So they did not find new additional paleontological resources. One of the goals was to make sure that was not impacted. So they didn't impact known resources. They did get a lot of, with the public outreach, they really got a lot of public trust with this project. So, that was an important thing that came out. And they also, use this for educational opportunities. I mean, the Trackways Monument is there. I'm not sure quite yet if there'll be any interpretive signs put up on this site or not, but they didn't find new things, but they also didn't disturb important resources.
KC Counts:
So what does the reclamation award mean to the Las Cruces office?
Lloyd Moiola:
Well, I, you know, I think it's a very important award, you know, it Ultimately, the Community Pit Mine Safeguard Project stands as a noteworthy model of effective collaboration, innovative technology, and proactive public engagement. So I think that's a good thing for the BLM, and it's great for the public to be able to trust that these governmental agencies are doing the work they say they're going to do, and they're open and transparent about it. And there's not always a lot of public recognition for the work done by both the public and private sector and mine reclamation. And it's an important award, and the state Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department wants to recognize companies and entities that are doing innovative reclamation.
KC Counts:
Anything else you think is important that people should know about this project?
Lloyd Moiola:
I guess I just want people to know that first, we do a lot of work throughout the states to abate the hazards of abandoned mines. The BLM is one of our primary partners with the state of New Mexico to help safeguard abandoned mines so that the recreating public has areas where biking, hiking, hunting, and all those recreational opportunities are safe within those mining districts. And I think it's a great example of partnership between the state and federal entities as well, and the public.
KC Counts:
Any other big projects underway in the southwest portion of the state that you think we should keep our eye on?
Lloyd Moiola:
Well, we are doing additional work at Boston Hill and Silver City. Those were large manganese mines that the Silver City created an open space. We have done a lot of work safeguarding those mines and that's continuing. We also have a very large project that's starting in the Florida mountains. You know, there's hundreds of abandoned mines just outside of the community of Deming in the Florida mountains. We're working on that. And we're also working in areas around Las Cruces just to the north, of like in the Rincon mining districts and up in the Caballo Mountains. So we have quite a bit going on in southern New Mexico to clean up Havana mines.
KC Counts:
I can imagine that there are a few people who wish you would leave them accessible because they're hoping to find leftovers.
Lloyd Moiola:
We do a lot of this safeguarding work. We build a lot of gated structures and other structural closers to both allow for bat habitat use and other wildlife use. And further, a lot of the mining claimants, we do put locking gates on a lot of those openings, so they still have access, but the general public doesn't. We're always willing to work with the general public, but we don't promote going into abandoned mines, but I know a lot of people go to these districts to collect rock off the waste piles and other things. And A lot of those areas are still accessible after the work, but it depends on whether it's on private or public property. And again, there are a lot of gem and mineral collectors and also miners that would like these things accessible, and we're always working with them, including the BLM. They build a lot of gates on mine features that still allow the claimants access.
KC Counts:
All right, is there a place to go to kind of keep up with these types of projects and how they're progressing?
Lloyd Moiola:
Yes, well, you can look at our website, Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department. So if you just go to emnrd.nm.gov, you'll be able to find a lot of information about abandoned mine land projects throughout New Mexico.
KC Counts:
Lloyd Moyola, Environmental Manager with the New Mexico Abandoned Mine Land Program with the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. Thank you so much for talking about this and putting it in perspective. We appreciate your time.
Lloyd Moiola:
Well, thank you so much for the interview and we appreciate it as well.
