Chloe D. Gustafson Anjana K. Shah Josip D. Adams Matthew A. Burgess 20260505 tabular digital data Denver, CO U.S. Geological Survey Suggested citation: Gustafson, C.D., Shah, A.K., Adams, J.D., Burgess, M.A., 2026, Radiometric data collected from an uncrewed airborne system and via walking surveys at mine waste sites in New Mexico, 2024: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P1O2SD5T. Primary contributors: Chloe D. Gustafson 0000-0001-8323-2568, Josip D. Adams, 0000-0001-8470-4141, Matthew A. Burgess, 0000-0003-3487-4972, Anjana K. Shah 0000-0002-3198-081X https://doi.org/10.5066/P1O2SD5T Radiometric data (gamma ray spectrometry) were collected via a small uncrewed airborne system (sUAS) in June 2024 to characterize four distinct mine waste features in Southwestern New Mexico. Walking surveys with a handheld meter were also conducted over parts of the survey areas to provide ground truth checks for the airborne data. Survey sites and their respective areas covered include: the Blackhawk mine dump (~1200 m^2) and the Alhambra mine dump (21,000 m^2), both located in the Blackhawk Mining District, and the low-grade stock piles (2100 m^2) and the tailings (108,000 m^2) at the Copper Flat Mine. These data were collected in support of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI), which aims to improve knowledge of the geologic framework of the United States through new geological and geophysical mapping and to identify areas that may have the potential to contain critical mineral resources. Data were acquired with the Medusa MS-350 radiometric sensor mounted on a PRISM Lite sUAS. Precise horizontal and vertical positions were obtained using an Emlid M2 differential GPS system. The nominal flying height for the surveys was 1-3 m. Data collected at heights above 3 m were removed in the final processing due to low signal-to-noise with increasing height, but remain in the raw data products. Data were processed to produce maps of Potassium (K), estimated Thorium (eTh), and estimated Uranium (eU). These data were collected to improve understanding of the composition variation and critical mineral potential of mine waste features. 20240618 20240621 ground condition Complete None planned -108.5104 -107.4970 32.9689 32.7208 ISO 19115 Topic Category geoscientificInformation None Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center GGGSC EarthMRI Earth Mapping Resources Initiative Mineral Resources Program MRP USGS U.S. Geological Survey USGS Thesaurus mineral resources mine waste critical minerals geospatial datasets radiometric surveying uncrewed airborne systems gamma ray spectrometry USGS Metadata Identifier USGS:68c06be8d4be025f1dac0e82 None New Mexico Hillsboro mining district Blackhawk mining district None. Please see 'Distribution Information' for details. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data for other purposes, nor on all computer systems, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. The USGS or the U.S. Government shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. Chloe D. Gustafson U.S. Geological Survey Geophysicist mailing

1 Denver Federal Center

Mail Stop 973, W 6th Ave Kipling St

Lakewood CO 80225 US 303-236-1188 303-236-1425 cgustafson@usgs.gov Funding for this study was provided by the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative and the USGS Mineral Resources Program; U.S. Geological Survey roles and contributions: Scientist-in-charge: Anjana K. Shah; Survey design and coordination: Anjana K. Shah, Chloe D. Gustafson, Josip D. Adams, Matthew A. Burgess; Data Collection: Josip D. Adams and Matthew A. Burgess; Data processing: Chloe D. Gustafson and Josip D. Adams; Data preparation for release: Chloe D. Gustafson and Anjana K. Shah; Metadata preparation for release: Chloe D. Gustafson and Anjana K. Shah; Data Release Review: Geoffrey Phelps; Chloe D. Gustafson Anjana K. Shah Matthew A. Burgess Josip D. Adams Virginia McLemore Evan J. Owen 20251101 publication The Leading Edge Society of Exploration Geophysicists https://doi.org/10.1190/tle44110889.1 Chloe D. Gustafson Anjana K.Shah Josip D. Adams Matthew A. Burgess 20260201 tabular digital data doi:10.5066/P145CWYA Warren C. Day 201909 publication Day, W.C., 2019, The Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)—Mapping the Nation’s critical mineral resources (ver. 1.2, September 2019): U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2019–3007, 2 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20193007 https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20193007 No attribute accuracy tests were performed Radiometric data were loaded into the Gamman software, visually inspected, and analyzed through the development of the radiometric maps. Other digital data were visually inspected in grid and tabular format for reasonableness and spatial consistency. Data set is considered complete for the information presented, as described in the abstract. Users are advised to read the rest of the metadata record carefully for additional details. Processed sUAS radiometric data include position data determined by an external multi-band RTK GNSS module, the Emlid Reach M2, which has centimeter accuracy. Raw sUAS radiometric data include position data from the MS-350's internal GPS sensor, which has 1.5 m accuracy. Processed sUAS radiometric data include position data determined by an external multi-band RTK GNSS module, the Emlid Reach M2, which has centimeter accuracy. Raw sUAS radiometric data include position data from the MS-350's internal GPS sensor, which has 1.5 m accuracy. Data acquisition. Radiometric data were acquired with the Medusa MS-350 radiometric sensor. Positional data were acquired with the Emlid Reach M2 sensor. Both sensors were mounted to a PRISM Lite, an sUAS, that was flown manually over the mine waste areas. Nominal flying heights ranges from 1-3m above ground. The MS-350 sensor measured gamma-rays in "survey mode" at a rate of 10 Hz and stored data internally as total counts and as spectral data. 20240620 Data processing. Gamman software was used to perform full spectral analysis and smoothing of the data to obtain estimates of radioelement concentrations K, Th, and U. Data were smoothed using the "repeated fit" option with a smoothing factor of 5. 20250515 Data processing. Estimated of K, Th, and U were height corrected using height above ground measurements from the Emlid M2 sensor. Radiometric estimates and positional data were combined and height corrections were applied using Python. A sensor background correction was also applied. Data where height above ground was greater than 3 m were omitted. 20250515 Data processing. The combined radiometric and positional data sets were read into Oasis Montaj, which was used to remove time periods when the sUAS was stationary and divide the data into flight lines. 20250601 Data processing. Radiometric concentration estimates for K, Th, and U were gridded using a minimum curvature algorithm in Oasis Montaj and exported as xyz and geotiff files. 20250601 U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase mailing address

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Denver CO 80225 1-888-275-8747 sciencebase@usgs.gov Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data for other purposes, nor on all computer systems, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. Digital Data https://doi.org/10.5066/P1O2SD5T None 20260505 Chloe D Gustafson USGS - ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION Geophysicist mailing and physical

Denver Federal Center,DFC Bldg 20

Lakewood CO 80225 n/a cgustafson@usgs.gov gs_gggsc_dm_team@usgs.gov FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001-1998