DEMING – The Deming City Council has rejected a proposed lease involving American Magnesium and approved a five-year moratorium on the sale of City water rights, taking two actions that place new limits on large industrial development proposals amid continuing concerns about the area’s water supply.
The actions were taken during the City Council’s Aug. 18 meeting. Official meeting minutes and the final written resolutions had not yet been posted by the City as of Thursday, so details including the vote count and lease terms were not immediately available.
The American Magnesium proposal is connected to the company’s long-planned Foothills Dolomite mine near the Florida Mountains outside Deming. The project calls for mining dolomite rock that the company says can be used to produce magnesium.
The Council’s decision does not cancel the mine itself. The Bureau of Land Management approved the mine’s plan of operations in 2020, and that federal approval remains in effect. However, the company’s associated processing-facility proposal has remained under additional environmental review following a federal court challenge.
In January, BLM announced it was preparing a supplemental analysis of possible water-quality impacts from the proposed processing facility, which would be located on private land in Luna County. The federal agency said the court required it to more fully examine those potential impacts, while leaving the mine approval in place.
The new City moratorium prevents the sale of City water rights for five years. It comes as Deming and other communities in the region continue to focus on drought, groundwater availability and the potential demand created by future industrial projects.
The City Council agenda and its eventual meeting minutes are available through the City of Deming’s public records portal. BLM information on the American Magnesium processing-facility review is available through the agency’s Las Cruces District Office.
John Krehbiel – Bravo Mic Communications News – John@bravomic.com
