Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Gold mining still booming in Nevada
Biggest in U.S. history, with high production
ELKO — Boom. Bust. Rush. Crash. These words are associated with the cyclical nature of the world’s minerals extraction industry known for making and breaking companies, economies, towns and fortunes.
Nevada — where mining has existed since before statehood — has witnessed these ups and downs over time but now is experiencing a rather rare phenomenon in the mining industry.
“There has been a gold rush in Nevada for close to 50 years,” said John Muntean, an economic geologist and associate professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, who works for the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology.
The gold boom is the biggest in U.S. history, defined by high annual production and long life of mines, according to a Nevada mineral industry report that Muntean co-authored.
Decadeslong production at operations, such as those along the Carlin Trend, defies the traditional ebb and flow of mining camps throughout the history of the state and world.
Mining gold and other minerals in Nevada positioned the state as the No. 1 gold-producing region in the nation and a top producer in the world. For locals, continuous mining means careers in the field and robust economies — but how long will it last?
A look back at Nevada’s major gold discoveries, production, reserves and exploration provides hints about the future of mining.
Perhaps the best known mining operations in the state follow the Carlin Trend where major mining companies Newmont Mining Corp. and Barrick Gold Corp. have been in operation for decades.
“It was a world-class discovery and deposit,” said Dana Bennett, Nevada Mining Association president and historian. “Nevada’s current gold industry really does date back to 1965.”
The discovery of microscopic gold on the Carlin Trend allowed Newmont to start development of its Carlin operations in the early 1960s. At the time, reserves were estimated to be less than 1 million ounces, said Rich Perry, administrator of the Nevada Division of Minerals, implying a short mine life.
Cumulative production, however, from the Carlin Trend reached 88.2 million ounces at the end of 2016, “assuring its place as one of the most productive gold-mining districts in the world,” according to the Nevada mineral industries report.
The geologists’ “uncanny vision, persistence, innovation — and let’s not forget in this industry, good ol’ lady luck — led to one of the biggest discoveries of gold that prospectors of years past could neither see but even more importantly, couldn’t even imagine,” said Tom Kerr, who was then Newmont’s senior vice president of North America, at a celebration in 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the company’s first gold pour.
Additional mining companies mine along the Carlin Trend, which casts about a 5-by-40-mile swath over northeastern Nevada in Eureka County. Barrick’s Goldstrike Mine is on the northern Carlin Trend, where about 20 mines and deposits are situated, according to a 2017 technical report for Goldstrike.
Geologists also began recognizing Carlin-type deposits in other areas of the state such as in the Cortez District outside of Beowawe. There, mining began with a focus on silver in the late 1800s but shifted to mainly gold production in the 1960s. Today, Barrick maintains its Cortez operations in that area.
Just east of the Pequop Mountain Range near Oasis, Newmont began operations at the Long Canyon open pit mine in 2016 and plans to advance to a second phase of mining that includes going underground. The company produced 22,000 ounces of gold by the end of 2016 and 174,000 ounces of gold in 2017, according to Newmont’s annual report.
“That’s (a Carlin-type deposit), but to put it in perspective, it’s close to 90 million ounces on the Carlin Trend, and Long Canyon has only between 2-3 million ounces,” Muntean said, estimating that it will “not be one of the big camps.”
“You never know,” he added. “You might find something down the line.”