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Nevada Mining

Mining through the past: Cambridge student visits Nevada County to research Cornish heritage – by Jennifer Nobles (The Union – September 5, 2018)

The Union

Sebastian Horton has always dreamed of visiting California. Growing up in Penzance, Cornwall, England, he’d imagine a land of sunshine and balmy temperatures, a place where he could surf and skateboard to his heart’s content.

The 22-year-old finally made his California wishes come true, but the purpose for his trip is much more significant than he’d initially imagined.

Horton — a third year student at Cambridge University — is visiting Nevada County in order to conduct extensive research for his dissertation which will be presented in April. The topic of the project will be Cornish mine workers who ascended to positions of social and political influence.

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[Nevada Mining] Mineral extraction pioneer rethinks metallurgy – by Suzanne Featherston (Elko Daily Free Press – September 7, 2018)

https://elkodaily.com/

A pioneer of the state’s cyanide heap-leach technology is now testing a cleaner, zero-waste approach to mineral extraction that could revolutionize the industry.

The process has potential to unlock unrealized resources in previously mined material, and some proponents hope in its ability to extract precious metals from virgin ore.

Testing of an extracting liquid began on previously leached material from Comstock Mining Inc.’s nonactive Lucerne Mine in August 2017. Results a year later show that the technology can reduce cyanide while extracting valuable minerals, including silver and gold.

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Nevada Mine Could Produce 25% of World’s Lithium – by Paul Nelson (KTVN News – August 29, 2018)

http://www.ktvn.com/

The largest known lithium deposit in the United States is in northern Nevada, and a mining company says it has big plans for the property.

The largest known lithium deposit in the United States is in northern Nevada, and a mining company says it has big plans for the property. The high-grade, highly-concentrated mineral is found in the McDermitt Caldera, stretching from Humboldt County into Oregon.

“Chevron started drilling this site out back in the 70s, looking for uranium and they found lithium instead, so it’s a known resource,” Alexi Zawadzki, CEO of Lithium Nevada said. “The McDermitt Caldera is one of the most highly mineralized calderas in the world.”

A prehistoric volcano created the caldera, which turned into a lake. The lithium is in the clay that sat at the bottom of the water. “This was basically the Yellowstone hot spot, which has moved over the last 16 million years to the east and this is a geological artifact of that,” Zawadzki said.

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Nevada: Where the World Goes for Gold (Investing News Network – August 16th, 2018)

Investing News Network

This Investing News Network article is sponsored by Fremont Gold (TSXV:FRE).

Nevada may be one of the most geologically diverse mining jurisdictions in the world. Nearly every type of rock known to geologists can be found in the state’s desert landscape.

Nevada has been an important source of many of the world’s most critical base metals including copper, zinc and molybdenum. Today, Nevada leads the country in the production of lithium and, not surprisingly, the Silver State contains a wealth of precious metals, ranking as one of the top 5 global gold producers.

Nevada owes its unique geology and prolific gold production to the complex tectonic history of the northern Great Basin which gave rise to the widespread landscape of fault-dominated mountain ranges and valleys.

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End of the rainbow: The search for more gold deposits is on – by Suzanne Featherston (Elko Daily Free Press – August 6, 2018)

https://elkodaily.com/

ELKO — Prospect. Claim. Explore. The search for gold in Nevada keeps its allure long after the 1849ers panned gold flecks from the Carson River. A gold discovery can catapult the finder into wealth while helping sustain community economies.

“Big deposits start small,” said Rich Perry, Nevada Division of Minerals administrator. “They begin to unravel the geology of the district. Gold deposits are very geology intensive.”

Whether a prospector searches for gold in unexplored territory or an operator seeks to expand an existing mine, finding unseen riches remains a challenge, a necessity and a thrill.

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Editorial: Are Nevada’s gold mines near the end of the rainbow? (Elko Daily Free Press – August 1, 2018)

https://elkodaily.com/

There’s no doubt that gold drives northeastern Nevada’s economy. Most of us make a living either directly or indirectly on the strength of the mining industry. Often it is hard to tell which direction things are going, so we ask ourselves time and again: How long will it be before our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is empty?

This summer, Mining Quarterly editor Suzanne Featherston is taking a three-part look at that very question. Her series began two weekends ago with a study of the mining industry’s boom-and-bust past.

That was followed last weekend by an analysis of gold reserves in the state, and how long they are expected to last. And coming this weekend in part three, Featherston looks at the exploration side of mining to see who is searching for gold and where they are finding it.

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End of the rainbow II: Gold reserves in Nevada – by Suzanne Featherston (Elko Daily Free Press – July 29, 2018)

https://elkodaily.com/

ELKO — Production. Resources. Reserves. These are terms that help the mining industry define progress and prospects. Yet even with the best science, neither the past nor educated guesses can predict the exact future of mining.

Commenting about the future of mining is like forecasting the weather, said Nevada Mining Association President Dana Bennett, because so many factors can affect the outcome. With caution, people do analyze the data with the hopes of unearthing the mystery of the potentially profitable industry.

“Gold’s there. I suspect for a long time here in Nevada. It’s just we can’t put a number on it,” said John Dobra, a retired University of Nevada, Reno, professor of economics, specializing in resource and mineral economics. “Experience tells us there is a lot of it out there, and it’s kind of silly to think that we have found it all.”

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End of the rainbow: The future of gold mining in Nevada – by Suzanne Featherston (Elko Free Press – July 21, 2018)

https://elkodaily.com/

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 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.

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Barrick Gold has a problem: it is running out of gold – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 21, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

It’s not just a Barrick problem, either: many major producers have seen their reserves fall dramatically, raising concerns of a supply shock

Gold financier Pierre Lassonde thought it was time to cash in his chips. Thanks to a smart investment in a Nevada gold mine, shares in his royalty company, Franco Nevada, which he ran alongside his buddy Seymour Schulich, had run up from 65 cents a share to $17. By early 1988, Mr. Lassonde was ready to sell the company.

But after talking to the geologist who discovered the mine, he had second thoughts. Brian Meikle told him there was a humongous ore body yet to be exploited. “The discovery of three lifetimes” is how he described it. Similar logic had persuaded Barrick Gold Corp.’s Peter Munk and Bob Smith to buy the property about a year earlier.

That conversation with Mr. Meikle was a defining moment for Mr. Lassonde. He decided to hold on to the company. “[Franco] bought it for $2-million,” he said of the royalty on the mine. “If I had known, I would have bought it personally.” Given the wonderfully apt name Goldstrike, the mine would become one of the biggest in history. Since 1987, it has produced more than 45 million ounces of gold. Franco’s investment has yielded more than a billion dollars.

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New mines accelerated at Barrick’s South Arturo – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – June 27, 2018)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

Development work and construction of the Phase 1 openpit and the El Nino underground mine at Barrick Gold’s South Arturo operation, in Nevada, have been accelerated, setting the stage for some production from both operations later in 2018, partner Premier Gold Mines said on Wednesday.

The Phase 1 project will be the first openpit mine operated by Barrick using autonomous mining equipment, which Premier said would create an opportunity for reduced mining costs and improved safety.

The joint venture (JV), in which Barrick holds 60% and is the operator, has budgeted $90-million for the entire project, with development capital in 2018 amounting to $17-million.

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Nevada continues to be top gold producer in the nation – by Suzanne Featherston (Elko Daily Free Press – June 7, 2018)

https://elkodaily.com/

CARSON CITY — Gold production in Nevada increased more than 3 percent in 2017 compared to last year while gold prices were up slightly, according to reports released in May by the Nevada Division of Minerals.

Nevada’s mines produced 5.64 million ounces of gold in 2017. This total was up 3.2 percent from the 2016 production level of 5.47 million ounces. The average annual price of gold increased slightly from $1,251 per ounce in 2016 to $1,257 per ounce in 2017.

Nevada continues to be the nation’s top gold-producing state, contributing 72 percent of the total U.S. gold production in 2017 of 7.88 million ounces, as reported by the U.S. Geological Survey.

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The Mining Millionaire Americans Couldn’t Help But Love – by Gregory Crouch (Smithsonian Magazine – June 6, 2018)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/

Unlike the other one-percenters of his age, John Mackay gained his countrymen’s admiration. But in an ironic twist, it means he’s little known today

John Mackay’s was once the most beloved rags-to-riches story in America. A penniless Irish immigrant brought to New York City as a child, he’d risen from the infamous Five Points, the nation’s most notorious slum.

When Mackay sailed from New York en route to California in 1851, he had no name, no money, and not a single influential friend on earth. He’d possessed nothing but strong arms, a clear head, and a legendary capacity for hard work. In the eyes of the times, his road to riches had made no man poorer, and few begrudged him his success.

But in part because of his likability and unsullied reputation, John Mackay is mostly forgotten today. In contrast to titans of industry like Andrew Carnegie or railroad magnate and telegraph cable monopolist Jay Gould, who Mackay would famously defeat, Mackay commanded the admiration of people worldwide.

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Gold Giant Barrick Faces Grilling After Fall to Bottom of Pack – by Daniel Bochove (February 12, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. executives will have some explaining to do when the company releases full-year results Wednesday.

Even with rising gold prices and a strengthened balance sheet, the world’s largest gold producer left shareholders with the worst returns among its top North American peers last year and the third-worst performance in the 15-company BI Global Senior Gold Valuation Peers index.

That’s a sharp reversal of the heady gains a year earlier when the Toronto-based company appeared unable to put a foot wrong. In 2016, Barrick’s Canadian shares soared 110 percent as it unveiled a sweeping plan to streamline the company. That same year its biggest rival, Newmont Mining Corp., rose 89 percent.

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Nevada mining industry to spend hundreds of millions in 2018 on expansion – by Rob Sabo (Northern Nevada Business Weekly – January 15, 2018)

Northern Nevada Business Weekly

ELKO, Nev. — Northern Nevada’s largest gold mining companies remain bullish on their operations in Northern Nevada for 2018 and beyond. Newmont Mining Corp. and Barrick Gold North America continue to pour hundreds of millions of dollars of development capital into surface and underground mining operations in Nevada.

The price of gold rose from $1,158 an ounce in January of 2017 to just under $1,350 an ounce in January of the new year — a figure that justifies continued investment in both companies’ Northern Nevada operations. Nigel Bain, executive director of Barrick’s U.S. operations, says the company has several major developments and infrastructure improvements slated for 2018.

CORTEZ HILLS UNDERGROUND EXPANSION

Workers on Barrick’s Deep South project will continue developing deeper access declines underneath the company’s existing underground mining activities at Cortez Hills, part of the Cortez mine area, which is the largest gold mining complex in the state of Nevada.

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Barrick, Premier ink wide-ranging Nevada focused exploration, development pact – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – January 10, 2018)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Gold major Barrick Gold has signed a comprehensive exploration and development agreement with Premier Gold Mines that include toll-milling and exploration earn-in options for both companies at the McCoy-Cove and Rye projects.

Premier announced on Wednesday that, under the terms of the agreement, Barrick will have an option to earn a 60% interest in the exploration portion of its McCoy-Cove property (the joint venture (JV) property) by spending $22.5-million in exploration before June 30, 2022.

Further, Premier will retain 100% ownership over the Cove deposit portion of the McCoy-Cove property, which includes the high-grade Helen, 2201 and CSD/CSD Gap deposits. Premier will also secure a one-time bulk sample processing arrangement for the planned test-mining programme at its 100%-owned portion of the McCoy-Cove property.

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