EDITORIAL & OPINION — FACTS ‘N’ FIGURES — Output up for Nevada gold

Nevada mined 7.8 million oz. gold in 1997, which is 75% of all gold produced in the U.S. and nearly 10% of world production.

Gold production in Nevada makes the U.S. the second leading gold producer in the world. Although output in the state in 1997 increased 13% over 1996, the value of production declined by 6% to US$2.54 billion, owing to a decrease of 20% in the average price of gold.

Newmont Gold was the largest gold producer in Nevada in 1997, with total production of 2.7 million oz. That tally includes 1.8 million oz. from several mines along the Carlin trend in Elko and Eureka Ctys., and 572,000 oz. and 331,000 oz., respectively, from the Twin Creek and Lone Tree mines in Humboldt Cty.

Barrick Gold was second, with total production of 2.4 million oz., including 1.6 million oz. from the Betze-Post mine in Eureka Cty., 207,000 oz. from the Bull Frog mine in Nye Cty., and 574,000 oz. from the Meikle mine in Elko Cty. The Betze-Post mine is the largest gold mine in the U.S., and the Meikle mine produced more gold in 1997 than any other underground mine in North America.

Other large producers include the Round Mountain mine of Homestake Mining and Echo Bay mines, which produced 484,000 oz.; Placer Dome’s Cortez mine, which cranked out 408,000 oz.; and the Jerritt Canyon mine of Independence Mining, which yielded 312,000 oz.

Gold resources, including minable reserves and perhaps sub-economic deposits, totalled 117 million oz. at the end of 1997, or about 15 times the amount produced that year.

— The preceding is from Nevada Geology, the monthly publication of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology.