ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – The University of New Mexico will use federal funding to study Native American communities’ exposure to metal mixtures from abandoned mine sites awaiting cleanup, such as one in Colorado where there recently was a massive spill of wastewater.

The university said Thursday the $3.5 million grant was awarded to the College of Pharmacy by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

The university said the funding will pay for research as well as providing training and community environmental health workshops in collaboration with tribal colleges across the West.

There are thousands of abandoned and unremediated hard rock mines. Those mines are receiving increased scrutiny since the August accidental release of wastewater from the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado.