It says that the Mill/Industrial park would be built north of Deming, but all the material is in/on the Floridas. As much as I am for mining, it does suck that this one, large, distinct, isolated area is a potential site. Here in Silver City we have 2 copper mines, but they are surrounded by hundreds of thousands of acres of similar looking areas so to put a huge hole in the ground is no big deal. At the Floridas, they are talking about mining from the top down basically. That drastically changes the landscape.
In regards to putting them elsewhere, I would hope some thought is being put in to that. However, the beauty of the Floridas is how isolated it is and how difficult it is for Ibex to migrate to other ranges. In a sense they are "fenced" in on that mountain. When they first put Oryx on White Sands they believed they could keep them "on range" and we see how that turned out. Obviously not a big deal because Off Range tags provide tremendous opportunity. However, in a sense, they are still "corralled" into a certain area. I couldn't imagine what would happen if some wondered East into the Lincoln or West into the Gila, but surely they would become a competitor for habitat and food with the deer and elk. The Floridas seem to be the "perfect" place for Ibex, but it would be interesting to know if there are other possibilities.
Jeff