Help Protect The Pecos

The lands, waters, and way of life in Pecos are under threat from extensive new mining proposals in the Upper Pecos Watershed. 

This area is still recovering from irresponsible mining operations that contaminated the river in the 1990’s, causing over 90,000 fish to be killed and millions of dollars spent by the state for cleanup.

In 2019, Comexico LLC, a Colorado-based subsidiary of Australian mining company New World Resources Ltd, acquired 20 mining claims in the Jones Hill area near Tererro, NM. Comexico applied for permits to conduct exploratory drilling for gold, copper, zinc, lead, and silver. This initial exploratory drilling would adversely impact more than 400 acres and five tributaries of the Pecos, plus the river’s mainstem. 

Alarmingly, since 2019, Comexico has gained ownership of over 236 mining claims throughout the Pecos headwaters. The possibility of destructive hardrock mining now goes well beyond the original exploratory drilling sites, as shown by the “Active mining claims” map below. The area now claimed by Comexico covers 4,300 acres and, if developed, would impact the entire Pecos watershed and possibly Santa Fe’s municipal watershed.