Silver City, NM, March 25, 2019 - An environmental cleanup will begin this week at the Royal John Mine and Mill located in the Silver City Ranger District of the Gila National Forest. The mine site is east of San Lorenzo, New Mexico in Grant County on the western slopes of the Black Range of the Mimbres Mountains.

Past lead and zinc mining activities left over 90,000 cubic yards of tailings and waste rock material along the upper reaches of Cold Springs Creek. The USDA Forest Service is performing the first phase of a two-part environmental cleanup to remove waste with elevated levels of lead. Contaminated tailings and waste rock material will be removed to an on-site consolidation cell where it will be permanently capped during Phase 2. This will provide a long-term reduction in direct exposure to the contaminated material and will decrease the potential for the contaminants to move from the tailings and waste rock material to the surrounding environment.

The environmental cleanup will require heavy construction equipment during daylight hours. The Royal John Mine Road will be closed to the public on the National Forest past the intersection of Silver Creek Road on National Forest System land. The closure will be in effect from April 1 to approximately June 28, 2019. Silver Creek Road (FR 523) will remain open.

Phase 2 of the environmental cleanup is expected to be awarded later this year and will remove the remained waste rock piles with elevated levels of lead and construct the final cap at the on-site consolidation cell. Phase 2 will complete the cleanup and all construction is planned to be finished in the spring of 2020. 

Mill tailings along Cold Springs Creek

Waste rock piles with elevated levels of lead at Royal John Mine