Gold mining in Nevada

Gold mining in Nevada, a state of the United States, is a major industry, and one of the largest sources of gold in the world. In 2015 Nevada produced 5,339,659 troy ounces (166.0820 t) of gold worth $6.194 billion, representing 78% of gold produced in the United States and 5.4% of the world's production. Total gold production recorded from Nevada from 1835 to 2008 totals 152,000,000 troy ounces (4,700 t), worth over US$228 billion at 2011 prices. Much of the gold in Nevada comes from large open pit mining using heap leaching recovery.

The Nevada mining industry supported an average of 14,196 direct employees in 2015, with about 65,000 additional jobs related to providing goods and services needed by the mining industry. The average pay for mining industry employees during this time was $92,077 per year, second highest of all employment sectors in Nevada.

Major mining companies such as Newmont Mining and Barrick Gold Corporation operate many of the state's gold mines. Active mines include those at Jerritt Canyon and the Carlin Trend.

Although Nevada was known much more for silver in the 19th century, many of the early silver mining districts also produced considerable quantities of gold. The produced 8,600,000 troy ounces (270 t) of gold through 1959, and the Eureka district produced 1,200,000 troy ounces (37 t). The Robinson copper mine has produced well over 2,700,000 troy ounces (84 t) gold, along with over 4 billion pounds (1,500,000 tonnes) of copper.

Gold was discovered in the vicinity of Carlin in Eureka County in the 1870s, but production was small. Placer deposits were discovered in 1907, but the deposits were too small to cause much excitement. It was not until 1961 that the Newmont Mining Corporation found the large low-grade gold deposit at Carlin that the mining industry began to take notice. The Carlin mine began producing gold in 1965, but at the price then of $35 per troy ounce, the ore grade was still too low to cause a rush to northern Nevada. It was not until the gold price shot up in the late 1970s that mining companies rushed to look for similar deposits.

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