Nevada Mining Facts

In 2001, Nevada’s mines produced 8.125 million ounces of gold making Nevada the world’s third largest gold producer.

In 2001, mines wastes more than 130,000 acre-feet of water, or more than enough to support a city of 500,000 people.

Nevada was formed as a mining state with mining districts for gold, silver and copper found all over the state.

Nevada has over 300,000 abandoned mines. The ongoing and future environmental effects of those mines are largely undefined or undetermined.

Currently, there are over 70 operating silver and gold mines employing the cyanide heap technology in the Great Basin.

Since 1998, at least 32 mines have gone bankrupt.

There are currently slightly more than 10,000 Nevadans directly employed in mining.

In 1998, there were over 13,000 Nevadans directly employed in mining. The decrease has primarily been due to efficiency improvements including the use of larger equipment.

The direct payroll of mining companies exceeds $500,000,000 per year.

The taxpayer of Nevada is liable for more than $240,000,000 in mine clean-up costs through the program offering corporate guarantees instead of cash or other instruments for financial securities for cleaning up the mines.

Nevada is the driest state in the country.

More than half of the mines researched by Great Basin Mine Watch have polluted surrounding groundwater with acid, cyanide, heavy metals or salt .

Every major river in the Great Basin is vastly overappropriated with every drop of water being used many times.

Many mines pollute surface water, primarily from seepage through acidic waste rock and other sources. For example, seepage from a pit lake and through waste rock dumps have polluted the North Fork Humboldt River for years.

Nevada has just one Superfund site, the Carson River between Dayton and Lake Lahontan. This was caused by mining during the Comstock era.

At least four mine sites, Rio Tinto, Yerington, Wood Gulch and the American Beauty mine quality for Superfund clean-up.

Nevada is the fourth most biodiverse state in the country.

The 1872 Mining Law allows mining to occur anyplace not previously protected that anyone claims could produce a valuable mineral.

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Over 83% of Nevada is managed by the federal government on behalf of the American people.

Between 1985 and 1997, mining exploration caused the loss of 300,000 acres of Forest Service roadless areas. At least 77,000,000 dollars was spent in Nevada looking for minerals during 2000 on hundreds of exploration projects. There are more than 100,000 active mining claims.