Since its beginnings, the Copper Flat Mine near Hillsboro has been mired in controversy. Multiple lawsuits have challenged its water rights and local residents have questioned its feasibility as a mine with low-grade ore that would use about 360 million gallons of water per year and generate significant pollution.
1970s: Most of the mine’s four production wells and 12 subsidiary wells are drilled.
1982: Quintana Minerals operates the copper mine for around four months between about March and June, before closing and declaring bankruptcy due to low copper prices and mounting debt.
1987: Quintana and Canadian Imperial Bank write in a letter to the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board that “Copper Flat Property is permanently closed and will not be restarted.” Canadian Imperial Bank sells the mine’s water use to William J. Frost and Harris Gray.
July 23, 2009: New Mexico Copper Corp.’s option agreement takes effect.
Sept. 9, 2010: New Mexico Copper Corp. begins the permitting process, submitting a sampling and analysis plan to the Mining and Minerals Division of the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.
2011: THEMAC Resources Group Limited, a Canadian-based company that is the parent of New Mexico Copper Corp., reaches 100% ownership of the mine. New Mexico Copper Corp. declares 7,578 acre-feet of groundwater a year with the Office of the State Engineer. It is also in the process of purchasing 6,462 acre-feet a year from Frost and Gray for $1.5 million.
Aug. 23, 2012: The agency review period of New Mexico Copper Corp.’s permit application begins.
2015: New Mexico Copper Corp. files for adjudication of its water rights. At the same time, Percha Animas Watershed Association challenges them in court on their claim of owning rights to use more than 7,000 acre-feet of water per year.
Dec. 28, 2017: Third Judicial District Judge James J. Wechsler finds that most of the water rights claimed by the company are not valid.
July 13, 2018: New Mexico Copper Corp.’s permit application package is deemed “technically approvable” by the Mining and Minerals Division.
Oct. 23-24, 2018: The Mining and Minerals Division hosts a public hearing on the permit application package.
April 2019: The New Mexico Copper Corp. can start mining, but it lacks water.
June 1, 2019: New Mexico Copper Corp. enters agreement with Santa Teresa Capital to lease 2,400 acre-feet a year of water for 10 years. But the company would still need 4,000 more acre-feet a year to process 30,000 tons a day of copper ore over a 12-year period.
March 31, 2020: The Mining and Minerals Division rescinds its earlier decision that said the permit application for the mine was technically complete. They say in an order that it in fact remains incomplete, because the company has yet to show it holds sufficient water rights to operate and reclaim the mine.
Aug. 23, 2023: On remand, the court grants the corporation an additional 184.2 acre-feet per year, bringing their total to a bit over 1,100 acre-feet per year.
January-March, 2024: Opponents — including the Percha-Animas Watershed Association — file briefs arguing an application to transfer 2,400 acre-feet per year of groundwater rights from Australian Tulla Resources Group to New Mexico Copper Corp. would harm their community’s water supply and damage local waterways.
Aug. 20, 2025: The state engineer denies the transfer, a victory for environmental advocates opposed to the mine.
Sept. 17, 2026: The Mining and Minerals Division holds a public hearing in Hillsboro on the Copper Flat Mine’s revised permit, since New Mexico Copper Corp. changed its proposal to dry stack tailings.
Oct. 16, 2026: Public comments are due to the Mining and Minerals Division regarding the mine’s permit.
Julia Gentin is a reporter for The Las Cruces New Mexican, The Santa Fe New Mexican and Searchlight New Mexico through a partnership with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. She covers the Southern New Mexico region. Learn more about Report for America at reportforamerica.org.
