Silver mining in Nevada

Silver mining in Nevada, a state of the United States, began in 1858 with the discovery of the , the first major silver-mining district in the United States. Nevada calls itself the "Silver State." Nevada is the nation's second-largest producer of silver, after Alaska. In 2014 Nevada produced 10.93 million troy ounces of silver, of which 6,74 million ounces were as a byproduct of the mining of gold. The largest byproducers were the Hycroft Mine (1.82 million oz), the Phoenix Mine (1.65 million oz), the Midas Mine (1.49 million oz) and Round Mountain (0.58 million oz).

The Rochester district in Pershing County was discovered and named in the 1860s by prospectors from Rochester, New York. The district was not a large producer until the early 20th century. In its boom years from 1912 to 1921, the district produced 6.4 million troy ounces (200 metric tons) of silver, 52 thousand ounces (1.6 metric tons) of gold, and 110 thousand pounds (50 metric tons) of lead. The minerals occur in quartz veins contained in Triassic rhyolite.

The Rochester Mine is the only currently operating primary silver producer in Nevada and the second largest in the USA, after the Greens Creek mine in Alaska. In 2015 it produced 4.6 million ounces of silver and 52,588 ounces of gold from an open pit and heap leaching operation. It is owned by Coeur Mining.

The had been a minor gold placer district since 1849. In 1859, several prospectors discovered its rich lode silver ore, and a great rush of miners poured eastward from California, and established Gold Hill and Virginia City, the principal towns of the . The district has been mostly inactive since the 1920s.

The Comstock was the first important silver-mining district in the United States, and its discovery stimulated a great deal of prospecting for silver across the Great Basin area of the United States. The resulting silver rush led to many other silver discoveries in Nevada, including Austin (1862), Eureka (1864), and Pioche (1869).

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