The Ortiz Mountains are a small range in northern New Mexico near Golden and Madrid, with Placer Peak as their highest point. Geologically, they lie along the eastern side of the Rio Grande Rift and contain intrusive igneous rocks and later mineralization that produced both base and precious metals. Those resources gave the district a long mining history, from early Spanish-period placer gold worked with Indian slave labor to nineteenth-century placer and underground mining, including notable New Mexico firsts. Mining waned after World War I, briefly revived from 1973 to 1986, and part of the former mining landscape is now preserved for public access.