Gold mining in Nevada - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Gold mining in Nevada, a state of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, is a major industry, and one of the largest sources of gold in the world. Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

currently mines 79% of all the gold in the United States, which is equivalent to 5640000 troy ounces (175.4 t) in 2009. Total gold production from Nevada recorded from 1835 to 2008 totals 152000000 troy ounces (4,727.7 t), worth over US $2.28 Trillion at 2011 prices. Almost all the gold in Nevada comes from large open pit mining and cyanide heap leaching

Heap leaching

Heap leaching is an industrial mining process to extract precious metals, copper, uranium, and other compounds from ore.The process has ancient origins; one of the classical methods for the manufacture of copperas was to heap up iron pyrite and collect the leachate from the heap, which was then...

recovery. A number of major mining companies, such as Newmont Mining

Newmont Mining

Newmont Mining Corporation , based in Denver, Colorado, USA, is one of the world's largest producers of gold, with active mines in Nevada, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Ghana and Peru. Holdings include Santa Fe Gold, Battle Mountain Gold, Normandy Mining, Franco-Nevada Corp and Fronteer Gold...

and Barrick Gold Corporation, operate gold mines in the state. Active gold mines include those at Jerritt Canyon and Carlin

Carlin Unconformity

The Carlin Unconformity or Carlin Trend is a geologic feature in northeastern Nevada which represents a period of erosion or non-deposition likely associated with a collision between a tectonic crustal block called a terrane and the North American Plate. The collision occurred during the...

.

Unlike coal and oil extraction, where mining companies pay royalties

Royalties

Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...

for minerals obtained from public land

Public land

In all modern states, some land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land. The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries...

s, gold mining companies do not pay any royalties for deposits claimed on federal public lands. This is because gold mines on public land operate under the General Mining Act of 1872

General Mining Act of 1872

The General Mining Act of 1872 is a United States federal law that authorizes and governs prospecting and mining for economic minerals, such as gold, platinum, and silver, on federal public lands...

.

Although Nevada was known much more for silver in the 19th century, many of the early silver-mining districts also produced considerable quantities of gold. The Comstock Lode

Comstock Lode

The Comstock Lode was the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located under what is now Virginia City, Nevada, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range. After the discovery was made public in 1859, prospectors rushed to the area and scrambled to stake their claims...

, for instance, produced 8600000 troy ounces (267.5 t) of gold through 1959, and the Eureka

Eureka, Nevada

Eureka is an unincorporated township in and the county seat of Eureka County, Nevada, United States. Eureka is by far the largest community in Eureka County...

district produced 1200000 troy ounces (37.3 t).

Carlin Trend

Gold was discovered in the vicinity of Carlin

Carlin, Nevada

Carlin is a city located near the western border of Elko County in northeast Nevada, west of the city of Elko. It is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area. Carlin sits along Interstate 80 at an elevation of approximately . As of the 2000 census, its population was 2,161...

in Eureka County

Eureka County, Nevada

Eureka County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 1,651. Its county seat is Eureka.Eureka County is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

in the 1870s, but production was small. Placer deposits were discovered in 1907, but the deposits were too small to cause much excitement. It was not until 1961 that the Newmont Mining Corporation found the large low-grade gold deposit at Carlin that the mining industry began to take notice. The Carlin mine began producing gold in 1965, but at the price then of $35 per troy ounce, the ore grade was still too low to cause a rush to northern Nevada. It was not until the gold price shot up in the late 1970s that mining companies rushed to look for similar deposits.

The Carlin Trend, part of what is also known as the Carlin Unconformity

Carlin Unconformity

by geologists, is 5 miles (8 km) wide and 40 miles (64.4 km) long running northwest-southeast, has since produced more gold than any other mining district in the United States. The trend surpassed 50000000 troy ounces (1,555.2 t) of gold in 2002. The Carlin and other mines along the trend pioneered the method of open-pit mining with cyanide heap leach recovery that is today used at large low-grade gold mines worldwide.

New ore deposits are still being opened along the trend. The South Arturo deposit was discovered by Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold Corporation is the largest pure gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and four regional business units located in Australia, Africa, North America and South America...

in 2005. The deposit contains an estimated 1300000 troy ounces (40.4 t) of gold.

Golden Fleece Mine (Nevada)

The Golden Fleece Mine, Washoe County, Nevada

Washoe County, Nevada

Washoe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. The population was 421,407 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Reno. Washoe County includes the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area.-History:...

, near Poeville

Poeville, Nevada

Poeville, also known as Peavine until 1863, is the site of a historical mining town, established in 1864. John Poe, a professional promoter from Michigan allegedly related to Edgar Allan Poe, discovered rich gold and silver veins in 1862 on the slopes of Peavine Mountain...

site, was operated by the Golden Fleece Gold & Silver Mining Company, incorporated on February 2, 1875, which held one patented claim on the site. W. F. Stewart had published a geological report on the mine in 1879, which had an eight-foot vein of ore. The small mining site was located at latitude: 39.584753, longitude: -119.903055 and has received more interest from historical point of view, than for its yield of gold. Several other mines were operating in the Poeville Mining District during 1863 and mid 1880.

Goldfield

Goldfield, Nevada

Goldfield is an unincorporated community and the county seat of Esmeralda County, Nevada, United States, with a resident population of 440 at the 2000 census. It is located about southeast of Carson City, along U.S...

was discovered in 1900, and began major gold production in 1902. The ore occurs in altered shear zones in Tertiary

Tertiary

The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...

dacite

Dacite

Dacite is an igneous, volcanic rock. It has an aphanitic to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. The relative proportions of feldspars and quartz in dacite, and in many other volcanic rocks, are illustrated in the QAPF diagram...

and andesite

Andesite

Andesite is an extrusive igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between basalt and dacite. The mineral assemblage is typically dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene and/or hornblende. Magnetite,...

. Total gold production through 1959 was 4200000 troy ounces (130.6 t).

Robinson/Ely

The Robinson district at Ely, Nevada

Ely, Nevada

Ely is the largest city and county seat of White Pine County, Nevada, United States. Ely was founded as a stagecoach station along the Pony Express and Central Overland Route. Ely's mining boom came later than the other towns along US 50, with the discovery of copper in 1906...

produced about 3000000 troy ounces (93.3 t) of gold through 1990, as a byproduct of copper mining.

Controversy over royalties

Many of Nevada's gold mines are located on public land

Public land

In all modern states, some land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land. The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries...

, but the mining companies pay no royalties

Royalties

Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...

to the US government. Fighting efforts to have the gold mining industry pay royalties for mining on public land, the local community commission in Elko County, Nevada

Elko County, Nevada

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 45,291 people, 15,638 households, and 11,493 families residing in the county. The population density was 3/sq mi . There were 18,456 housing units at an average density of 1/sq mi...

said that royalties would force mining companies to cut jobs and move elsewhere.
In response, Senator Russ Feingold

Russ Feingold

Russell Dana "Russ" Feingold is an American politician from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He served as a Democratic party member of the U.S. Senate from 1993 to 2011. From 1983 to 1993, Feingold was a Wisconsin State Senator representing the 27th District.He is a recipient of the John F...

(D-WI) said the no royalty program is a “rip-off and doesn’t make sense any more,” and if it was changed, “could provide $300 to 400 million in revenue to the US government.“

External links

Newmont: Nevada gold mines
Barrick: Goldstrike Property
Kennecott Minerals: Cortez Mine
Kinross Corp.: Round Mountain Mine
Southern Nevada: The Boomtown Years 1900-1925
Nevada Mineral Industry 2006, by Nevada Bureau of Mines & Geology
Major mines of Nevada 2006, by Nevada Bureau of Mines & Geology
Center for Responsive Politics -- Mining Industry Lobbying

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.