New owners to develop land swath along I-80

RENO -- The new owners of a huge swath of land along Interstate 80 from Reno to the Utah line say they plan to open it up for more mineral and geothermal development.

Fountain Investments Inc. of Miramar Beach, Fla., purchased 483,000 acres of land, and mineral rights to another 800,000 acres for $31 million from Pico Holdings Inc. of La Jolla, Calif.

Fountain's owners assigned their rights to the purchase agreement to another entity, Conduit LLC. New Nevada Land and New Nevada Resources, wholly owned subsidiaries of Conduit, will oversee the land and mineral rights.