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Saturday, April 20, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada gold companies set new production goal

CARLIN -- Now that they've become one of only three mining operations in the world to produce 50 million ounces of gold, the miners of Nevada's Carlin Trend have another goal in mind:

"I'm looking forward to the second 50 million ounces," said Steve Lang, vice president of Barrick Goldstrike Mines.

Gov. Kenny Guinn helped celebrate the production of the 50 millionth ounce this week with a ceremony at the Northeastern Nevada Museum in Elko.

"Tonight is a great occasion," Guinn said Wednesday before he was presented with a gold coin commemorating the event.

"Mining is so important to us," he said about the state's second largest industry behind gambling-tourism.

The Carlin Trend, which runs north and south of Interstate 80 near the city of Carlin west of Elko, is only the third mining location in the world to pour 50 million ounces. The other two are the Witwatersrand in South Africa and the Murantau in Uzbekistan.

Alan Coyner, administrator of the Nevada Division of Minerals, said the Carlin Trend could realistically hit the 100 millionth ounce mark within 15 years.

"There is easily 50 million ounces of reserves and resources on the Carlin Trend. I would say under current stable conditions, another 50 million ounces will be produced on the Carlin Trend," he told the Elko Daily Free Press.

If production averaged the current 4 million ounces an ounce, the next 50 millionth ounce could be reached in less than 15 years, but Coyner said underground mining is becoming more popular, and underground mining produces fewer ounces in a year.

State Geologist Jonathan Price, director of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, agrees another 50 million ounces of gold from the Carlin Trend is "quite possible," especially with the continued discovery of higher grade deposits deep underground.

He said as companies go deeper, they will find different types of gold deposits.

"There is a lot of area that's not explored yet," Price said.

Price said roughly 22,000 ounces were poured from 1909 to 1965, when Newmont started production from the old Carlin Mine.

The rest of the 50 million came after 1965 and mostly after the late 1980s. Now, Newmont and Barrick Goldstrike combined are producing 4 million ounces a year from the Carlin Trend.

Lang said the 50 millionth ounce is a "truly remarkable milestone. Indeed it's a milestone for the entire mining industry and the state."

He also said the celebration is a tribute to the thousands of miners and their "plain hard work that got us to where were are today."

Newmont Mining Corp. alone has produced 25 million ounces on the Carlin Trend, said Rich Perry, vice president of North American operations.

The world's largest gold mining company still "sees great potential" on the Carlin Trend and expects to spend $12 million on exploration in all of Nevada this year.

Roughly 480 million ounces of gold have been produced in this country over the years, and the Carlin Trend's 50 million ounces make up more than 10 percent of the total.