New Mexico Statutes Chapter 69. Mines § 69-10-2. Public policy

A. the exploitation of New Mexico's mineral resources provides an opportunity for highly paid jobs for New Mexicans;

B. the successful exploitation of minerals shall be encouraged by the state of New Mexico;

C. New Mexico has been very successful in the past in exploiting minerals with visual observational methods applied to the surface of the ground; and

D. New Mexico has now reached the stage where future exploitation of minerals must proceed on the basis of the intensive application of modern technology. The immediate need is for the assembly of known data on mineral resources by mineral resource economists in order to make it possible to point to the areas offering the highest probability of successful exploitation of these resources.