$8 billion worth of rare earth minerals in Sierra Blanca area mountain

[atrabilius]

If they need a lot of water for these mining operations, the local farmers and ranchers might have something to say about it. Apart from that, the government, and hunting leases and so forth, there isn't a lot to Hudspeth County's economy.

Apparently that land is now owned by the State of Texas and in 2007 it was under review for re-opening the sewage sludge business!

Which stank up Sierra Blanca while it was in operation until the people there got sick of it. Too close to town.

[painless]

Originally Posted by joqua

If you go to "Satellite" view and move around to the NE side of Sierra Blanca you'll see a really large earth excavation operation there that indicates more than just Round Mountain is involved. While it could simply be a gravel pit, there is no reason they would need to excavate higher up the slope of the mountain unless there is more than crushed gravel involved.

I climbed that mountain back in 1983. Sure wish I knew about the road on the other side of it.

[joqua]

Latest news on this mining proposition in the El Paso Times today (9/16/2014):

Texas Rare Earth holds state leases to explore and develop a 950-acre rare earth minerals deposit in the almost mile-high Round Top Mountain, located eight miles northwest of Sierra Blanca, and about 85 miles southeast of El Paso.


Company CEO Dan Gorski said Texas Rare Earth officials decided to scale down its start-up plan so the company could get into production as smoothly and at the lowest cost possible.


"Instead of producing 3,000 tons a year, we cut it down to almost 400 tons a year, and sell the most sought-after rare earth (minerals) that we can market" Gorski said during the presentation.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[RoyalT428]

It’s Salt