STATE
Mining interests stake more claims in last 4 years than entire last century
More than 12,000 mining claims have been staked in New Mexico since 2023, driven by Trump's push to fast-track permits and rising mineral prices.
Over the last four years, companies have staked more than 12,000 mining claims in New Mexico in search of minerals like gold, copper and uranium. That鈥檚 roughly three times the number of claims staked in the state in the entire 20th century.
A Source NM review of more than a century鈥檚 worth of U.S. Bureau of Land Management data shows that global interest in extracting New Mexico鈥檚 subsurface resources has exploded in recent years, particularly in 2026 amid President Donald Trump鈥檚 push to and rising prices for valuable minerals.
Even with roughly half the year remaining, the 3,450 claims staked in New Mexico as of late June mark the highest-ever number of claims in New Mexico since at least 1912.
A staked claim represents a roughly 20-acre site on which companies assert rights to extract resources.
Between 1912, when New Mexico became a state, and the year 2000, companies staked roughly 4,200 mining claims, according to a review of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management鈥檚 Mineral & Lands Records System.
That period includes booms and busts for various rare earth minerals like gold and silver and also captures the era in which New Mexico鈥檚 Grants Mineral Belt produced most of the nation鈥檚 uranium for the Manhattan Project and Cold War-era nuclear weapons build-up.
Since 2023, companies have staked more than 12,000 claims in the state. Staking a claim marks the first step before drilling and signals companies鈥� belief that minerals exist at sufficient quantities to be profitable.
Claims are often exploratory in nature, and any drilling or digging first requires environmental and other reviews at the state and federal level. The BLM data does not make clear how many companies moved forward with extraction operations after staking claims.
The BLM data also does not specify which minerals the companies sought in their claims, nor does it supply location data for roughly 5,000 recent claims.
But the available data does show the most popular county for mining interest in New Mexico: Grant County, which includes Silver City, in southwest New Mexico.
More than 3,100 of the 7,500 claims filed since 1912 in Grant County have occurred since 2023.
New Mexico Wild, a state environmental advocacy group, first compiled the historic claim data, which Source NM later verified. Akashia Allen, the organization鈥檚 geographic information systems analyst, told Source NM that she discovered the sharp rise in claims as part of the organization鈥檚 effort to keep tabs on the deluge in mining interest staked all over the state for a wide array of resources.
In recent months, companies from Canada and elsewhere have staked claims seeking uranium in the Carson National Forest near and the near Pie Town. Companies also have pushed huge numbers of claims for copper and , often provoking widespread opposition from residents and environmentalists.
Garrett VeneKlasen, New Mexico Wild鈥檚 northern conservation director, told Source NM that the Trump administration鈥檚 push to deregulate federal mining permitting certainly factors in the explosion in mining claims this year.
But he attributed the growing number of claims in New Mexico so far this decade to the long-standing power of the mining industry.
鈥淭he lobbying power of the industry is breathtaking. That was even true with oil and gas during the Biden administration,鈥� VeneKlasen said. 鈥淪o there鈥檚 never been a better time to stake claims and develop these things, because there are no regulatory roadblocks or very few.鈥�
