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Peru Mill &
With so much emphasis on a multi-million dollar investment in infrastructure, both at the Peru Mill and the proposed Highway 11 Corridor to support Peru Mill, I decided to do some research over the past two months. I have created a summary power point slide deck and an in-depth briefing. Let me know what you think!
Carol Ness continues to promote American Magnesium in City Council meetings. In the June meeting she once again told multiple lies to the City Council about the "progress" of American Magnesium. She continues to promote the company as a boon to the City, against SEC Rule 506b (I have filed a complaint to the SEC). The biggest lie is American Magnesium has recieved all required permits. Another lie, "No water will be required." Yet another lie, "Minimal environmental impact with little residual tailings." The sludge piles alone (from their own submissions to BLM) are a toxic catastrophe waiting to happen. When our only water supply, the Mimbres Aquifer, is polluted we have no economic development, no agriculture, no town.
Why is she lying so very publicly? She is still selling $5,000 shares to the unwitting in our community. Remember the prior "investment instrument", a Berylium Mine, fleeced investors of over $7,000,000.
Additional claims (that go directly against their filing with BLM and other Federal agencies): benefits to the community of hundred of millions of dollars, provide economic growth and prosperity, $17 million payroll for income, huge tax benefit for city, working for 100 years or more. (The BLM filing says 20 years.) The slides below tell the real story. For more details click on the link. In an open letter I have asked our elected officials to publicly announce any personal investment with American Magnesium.
Bottom line, when Carol Ness comes by hold onto your wallets!
If I got any facts wrong please let me know.
Mary Meade marylmeade@yahoo.com
Open letter to our representatives.
A Call for Public Disclosure of Government Representatives' Financial Interests in American Magnesium LLC
This project — which includes mining that would scar the Florida Mountains, sustained blasting and heavy truck traffic affecting neighboring residents, an industrial magnesium smelting operation at the Peru Mill site with attendant air and water quality concerns, and a proposed new Highway 11 Alternate Corridor for product distribution — is a potentially multi-million dollar undertaking that will affect this entire community for years to come. Given the conflicting statements now appearing in the public record, I believe the community deserves a clear-eyed look at what is actually known about this enterprise.
Accordingly, I am calling on all district, county, and city elected officials, as well as city and county managers, to go on written public record confirming that neither they, nor any immediate family member or financial partner, holds a financial interest — purchased or gifted — in American Magnesium LLC. Specifically: are you among the 64 investors documented in the company's SEC Form D filing?
Questions the Public Record Raises
At a recent Deming City Council meeting, Carol Ness, Managing Member of American Magnesium LLC, stated: "We have city permission for a lease of the mill site." The company's promotional video, currently on the American Magnesium website and downloaded for the record, similarly describes transporting quarried rock "to a high-tech magnesium complex at the fully permitted Peru Mill Industrial Park."
The public record does not support either claim:
A city councilwoman present at the meeting stated it was the first she had heard of any such agreement.
The City Manager confirmed that while he met with Carol Ness the week prior, no lease was signed.
As of July 2025, conservation groups with legal standing publicly confirmed that American Magnesium had not yet applied for the necessary state and local permits. Permits of this kind typically require more than a year to process. (See the Sources list in the attached briefing.)
BLM's supplemental FONSI (April 2, 2026) did not grant mill site operating permits — it completed only BLM's court-ordered NEPA analysis of water quality impacts.
The $1.41 million reclamation bond required before operations may begin has not been posted.
The mill site is city-owned public land, subject to city zoning laws and full council authority.
Ore transportation impacts on Deming residential neighborhoods have never been analyzed in any environmental review.
Making false statements to a municipal government body in order to obtain a property agreement, or to encourage investment, may constitute fraud under New Mexico law. This letter draws entirely from publicly available records so that government officials and community members can evaluate these claims for themselves.
On the Question of a Lease
New Mexico statute Section 3-54-1 permits a municipality to lease real property valued at $25,000 or less by public or private sale without a council vote. Leasing property of greater value requires a different process and may be subject to public referendum. The Peru Mill site — a large industrial property with senior water rights and a documented Superfund history — unquestionably exceeds that threshold. A transaction of this scale would normally require a full city council vote, proper public notice, and potentially a public referendum. [NMSA 3-54-1]
Respectfully,
Mary Meade
850-890-6511
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