The permit allowing Copar Pumice to continue a controversial mining operation in the Jemez Mountains expires Monday.

The company, owned by the family of Española businessman Richard Cook, can still obtain a new 10-year permit for its El Cajete Mine, but must go through a federal environmental review requiring public hearings, according to Santa Fe National Forest geologist Larry Gore.

"Until we get a complete plan of operation (from Copar), we won't start that process," Gore said.

Copar's safety and environmental compliance manager, Ralph Martinez, did not respond to a message left at his office seeking comment.

Copar still faces fines from the U.S. Forest Service for violating its current permit, but is appealing the case in U.S. District Court.

The company also is facing more than $81,000 in state Environment Department fines for alleged air quality violations at the mine. Copar officials are appealing those fines as well, and a hearing is scheduled before an Environment Department hearing officer in late February.

Copar owns four 80-acre pumice mining claims in the Jemez Mountains on the southwest side of the Valles Caldera National Preserve and just north of N.M. 4. The mine's boundaries are within a hundred yards of the closest house in a small neighborhood of scattered homes. The residents, many of whom work in nearby Los Alamos, have complained for a couple of years about the dust and noise from the mine and alleged the mine was violating its operating permit.

Last year, Santa Fe National Forest found Copar had violated its permit by repeatedly selling the pumice it mined for uses such as landscaping materials since 2003. Under the terms of the permit, Copar was only supposed to sell the pumice to the stone-wash laundry industry, Gore said.

He said once the permit expires Monday, Copar will have to stop its mining operation until it obtains a new one. He said Copar has expressed interest in a new permit.

In the meantime, the company will continue reclaiming the existing mine, Gore said. He said they have done a good job of reclaiming about 18 acres by covering the old mined scars with top soil and reseeding it. "Now they just need some rain," he said.