Oh, Nevada: The best gold address in the U.S. has most certainly still got it

It’s the land of vast open pits, heavy duty heap leaching and millions upon millions of ounces in gold and silver production per annum.

The preserve of yellow metal super majors, counting gold global leaders Barrick (TSX: ABX, NYSE: ABX) and Carlin trend synonymous Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) among its long-term residents: Nevada, how we adore thee.

“The American public loves it. Newmont and Barrick have done well and rightly so,” our off-the-cuff gold bug declares.

“Look around. There are plenty of juniors doing great things as well. It really doesn’t get any better than this.”

But let’s ditch the whimsy and get real here. If only the old timers who dug around way back when gold was first discovered in that Dayton stream, could see the state of, well, the State today.

Newmont seeks Carlin kindred

Since staking its claim and taking up gold mining in 1965, plus-$30 billion market cap Newmont has made the now-historic Carlin trend its stomping ground.

Responsible for around 41 per cent of all gold mines in the state and home to at least 20 known major deposits, the Carlin has already furnished the markets with approximately 76 million ounces and is on track to tip over 100 million ounces by 2021.

Newmont’s hold encompasses 14 open pits, four underground mines and 14 processing facilities churning out gold, silver and copper. The multinational’s appreciation of its ground and standing in the state remains as lofty as it has ever been; exemplified by its February acquisition of Fronteer Gold Inc. (TSX: FRG)(NYSE Amex: FRG) in a deal largely propelled by the similarities Fronteer’s Long Canyon project in Elko County bears to the Carlin when it comes to metallurgical and geological characteristics. Picking up FRG for a tidy $2.33 billion—complete with 5.7 million ounces of measured, indicated and inferred resource—Newmont chose to source a project analogous to its north Nevadan roots and stay in-state with good reason.

Richard O’Brien, Newmont’s President and CEO said that the combination of assets handed over by way of this deal will allow Newmont to exercise its “expertise and extensive infrastructure in the region,” and add strategically to the circa two million acres the miner already holds inside its borders. Nevada represents growth for Newmont, the transaction announcement states, ‘as evidenced by a 2011 exploration and development budget of approximately $285 million for near-mine activities.’

Barrick’s major find

Alan Coyner, administrator for the Nevada Division of Minerals, recently declared that Barrick’s whopping September discovery of nearly 3.5 million ounces of gold at its Red Hill and Goldrush claims is the biggest scoop Nevada’s mining industry has seen for 2011.

Just a few miles southeast from Barrick’s 2,800 square kilometre Cortez mine—home to 14.5 million ounces of gold in proven and probable mineral reserves as of December 31, 2010—these claims now offer as-yet-uncapped opportunities for adding to annual output and/or mine life at Cortez.

The inferred resource of 3.5 million ounces of gold from 28.8 million mt grading 0.123 ounces per million tonnes gold well and truly stuck Red Hill on the map, and the seven kilometre trend it sits on, where Barrick has identified two zones of gold mineralisation, looks likely to commandeer attention again as the company keeps on drilling.

Let’s hear it for the juniors

They may not grab the column inches of the multinationals, but the progress made by Nevada’s more modest miners can’t be underestimated. In the past month, North American gold explorer West Kirkland Mining (CVE: WKM) confirmed expanded gold mineralization at its TUG property, located along the Long Canyon trend. The results surpassed historical resource boundaries for the asset, returning assay results including 2.89 grams per tonne gold and 112 grams per tonne silver over 6.09 metres within 47.24 meters of 0.52 grams per tonne gold, and 18.17 grams per tonne silver from hole WT11-007. These hits enabled WKM to reveal that the system is open for further expansion, and given that the group’s stock has upped by approximately 8.8 per cent within six months, it looks like the markets have noticed that Nevada is taking good care of the team.

The tales of other intrepid explorers gained some due recognition on December 1, when Coyner unveiled his 2012 Nevada Top Ten Exploration
Projects List during the Northwest Mining Association get-together in Sparks, Nevada.

Gracing the top spots were a number of names from gold: Rye Patch Gold Corp.’s (TSX.v: RPM) wholly-owned Wilco gold and silver project (625,500 ounces measured and indicated and 1,124,700 ounces inferred); Renaissance Gold Inc.’s (“RenGold”) (TSX.v: REN) Spruce Mountain Property (home to an exploration earn-in agreement with Summit Mining Exploration); and Midway Gold Corp.’s (TSX.v /NYSE: MDW) joint venture with Barrick, the Spring Valley gold project.

In Coyner’s annual rundown, we saw more than names to watch and praise for the majors. We saw the regard in which groups active in Nevada are held, the (largely) friendly competition that takes place, and firm proof that the state is still, and long will be, one of the more pertinent gold addresses on earth. In the successes of majors like Newmont and Barrick, we see projects exploited to their full potential. In the juniors and the mid-caps, we see strategic exploration geared towards value-adding through resource definition. And in Nevada, we foresee many productive years to come.