In a little more than three years the gold rush may come to Wendover and Wells, according to officials from Newmont Mining.
[media id=180 width=320 height=240]
In their second appearance before the West Wendover City council, Newmont executives gave their first semiofficial best guess as to when construction on the Long Canyon Mine would begin– early 2015.
While the tentative date is anything but set in stone, any date especially coming from the venerable Newmont is a pretty good bet.
Literally a mountain of gold ore lies in the once long over looked Pequop Range now in advanced exploration.
In addition to being having ‘smoking hot’ ore the area is a stones throw from Interstate 80, has no endangered species living anywhere near it and does not have any significant archeological sites located on it.
Like the geologists the recent past, ancient Native Americans also apparently ignored Long Canyon.
Ignored no longer, the mine has the potential to radically alter the economy and the lives of eastern Nevada, residents of Wendover and Wells. The two cities who once looked with jealously at the boom in Elko and Carlin could soon have a mine to call their own.
Estimated to need 500 workers during construction and 250 miners once operations are ready, the Long Canyon mine could add at least 1,000 people to the area and that may be just the tip of a gold boom in eastern Elko County.
The same people who found a mountain of gold where no one else expected to find one in the Pequops range 30 miles east of Wendover are now looking for more of the yellow stuff just to Wendover’s south.
Animas Resources Ltd. Announced that it has signed a letter of intent to sell its interest in the Kinsley Mountain gold project in Nevada to Pilot Gold Inc.
The Kinsley Mountain Property is located in extreme eastern Nevada in Elko Co. between the towns of Ely and Wendover. Nevada Sunrise LLC acquired the property in 2000.
The property consists of 141 unpatented lode mining claims covering an area of approximately 2807 acres.
Pilot Gold is led by the same management and technical teams that built Fronteer Gold, a strong growth company acquired by Newmont Mining Corporation for approximately $2.3 billion. In 10 years, Fronteer Gold grew from a $2-million venture shell into a well-funded, high profile, development-focused gold company. During this time, Fronteer Gold discovered or advanced seven deposits.
Exploration interest in eastern Nevada is currently elevated due to recent significant gold discoveries in the Pequop Mountains northwest of Kinsley Mountain, in similar Early Paleozoic-age carbonate stratigraphy.
In addition to Long Canyon and Kinsley Mountain, other exploration in the area is also heating up including the old Victoria Mine near Currie.
Most of the three years between now and the construction start is due to getting the correct permits and completing the requisite studies mandated by federal and state governments.
The meeting is now being webcast on the High Desert Advocate website www.coyote-tv.com.
