Recently, the Nevada Mining Association (NvMA) led local dignitaries on a tour of the depleted Bullfrog gold mine, near Beatty, about 200 km northwest of Las Vegas, to show how
The tour was the first of a series of visits the NvMA will conduct at Nevada’s mine sites this year.
A scaled-down crew at Bullfrog is working full-time to recontour hillsides, raise the groundwater table, remove the mill, and plant vegetation.
David McClure, Bullfrog’s general manager and acting tour guide, says Barrick and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are in discussions to ensure that some office and maintenance buildings can be left behind for other industrial uses. Usually, the BLM, which holds title to the land, requires all buildings to be demolished and destroyed as part its reclamation policy.
The once-prolific Bullfrog was mined by open-pit and underground methods. The main pit was mined out in 1994, and two satellite pits were depleted by 1996; by the end of 1998, low-grade ore from underground was being mined and stockpiled.
Nevada is the third-largest gold-producing region in the world, behind Australia and South Africa. Mining in the state is a US$6-billion industry that employs more than 13,000 people; the average salary is US$52,824.
On the same day as the Bullfrog tour, the dignitaries visited IMV Nevada’s specialty clay mine in the Amargosa Valley. IMV continues to produce industrial clays for drilling fluids and fertilizer additives, among other applications.
Future tours will focus on underground mining, water management systems at mine sites, surface mining, and mine development. For more information, contact the Nevada Mining Association by phoning (775) 829-2121 in Reno or (702) 892-3721 in Las Vegas.
Be the first to comment on "Barrick reclaims historic Bullfrog mine"