Miners open LV office to boost clout

Friday, Feb. 18, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

The Nevada Mining Association has opened a Las Vegas office, hoping to deliver the industry's growth message to policymakers in the state's largest population center.

Environmentalists, seeing themselves as financially mismatched against the state's second largest industry, are worried.

"The importance of Las Vegas to the state is clear," said Russ Fields, president of the NMA, which has about 400 members, including the operators of 20 Nevada gold mines.

Gold is Nevada's most important mineral resource.

"We're looking at building good relationships and establishing good contacts," Fields said. "We feel it's important to put a face on the mining industry in Las Vegas."

And the face of the industry in Las Vegas belongs to Tim Crowley, who had stints as an aide to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and former Gov. Bob Miller.

Crowley is the only Las Vegas NMA employee. From his office in Suite 200 at 3753 Howard Hughes Parkway, he shares a receptionist with other small companies operating at the Howard Hughes Center.

Since opening the office Oct. 1, Crowley has been on the Chamber of Commerce circuit, meeting business people and making contacts within the community.

"My goal is to keep busy and to interact with new people every day," Crowley said.

In addition to interacting with local business people and explaining the importance of mining to the state's economy, Crowley plans to meet regularly with state and federal lawmakers.

"There's a practical side to having an office in Las Vegas," Crowley said. "Legislators work year-round. They have regular meetings and the majority of them are held down here. Most of the campaigning for office occurs down here and they're (candidates) constantly at events. Logistically, it makes sense to be here."

Fields said it also makes sense politically to have a presence in Las Vegas, since the city will become even more influential when congressional districts are reapportioned after the 2000 Census. Nevada is expected to get a third member of Congress.

Crowley said many of the people he has met over the past 4 1/2 months don't even realize mining exists in the state. The reason: Most of the state's mines are in the northern part of the state and in remote locations where Las Vegans aren't likely to see or hear about them.

"I've found that most people in this city are unaware of the significance of mining," Crowley said. "They look at me and say, 'I didn't realize there was gold mining in the United States anymore.' They don't even realize this state is the heart of U.S. gold production."

The only mines near Las Vegas are some relatively small gypsum operations on the outskirts of town as well as sand and rock pits. The closest gold mine to Las Vegas is in California, south of Searchlight, Nev.

In 1998, Nevada mines had $3.1 billion in mineral production, including silver, oil, gypsum and lime -- and $2.61 billion in gold.

The association says Nevada is the third-largest gold producer in the world behind South Africa and Australia, providing 76 percent of the total U.S. gold production and 11 percent of the world's total.

The NMA says 14,700 Nevadans work in the mining industry and the industry's average salary in the state is $49,905 a year.

It's those statistics that environmentalists say are overemphasized whenever the mining industry tells its story. Environmental leaders are worried that in their zeal to spread the word about the good things the industry does for the state that miners will gloss over controversial topics.

Tom Myers, director of the Great Basin Mine Watch, a Reno-based environmental watchdog group that monitors the activities of the mining industry, said the opening of a Las Vegas office by the MNA concerns him, primarily because he believes conservation messages get lost in the Las Vegas glitz.

"I would hope the information they put out is truthful," Myers said. "Generally, it has been, except they tend to ignore certain facts."

Myers said some mining companies are good corporate citizens and make good on their promises to restore land they have mined. But some don't.

Overall, Myers said he gives a C or a C-minus to the mining industry for its environmental performance in Nevada.

The biggest issue over which environmentalists and miners fight is "dewatering" -- the process of removing water from a mine site to make it dry enough to dig. Because some mines are below the level of the underground water table, miners remove water from a site and deposit it elsewhere.

The problem, Myers said, is that the process can disrupt water sources miles away, drying up springs and rivers.

Myers also said some companies have promised to restore land they have mined, but then file for bankruptcy before the job is done. Environmentalists recommend that a cash bond be posted to assure restoration is completed. Presently, a corporate bond -- a promise that the company is financially capable of finishing the work -- is what's required.

"I get concerned when they (the mining industry) start waving the flag and talk about providing jobs and providing livelihoods," said Jane Feldman, co-chair of conservation committee of the Southern Nevada Group of the Sierra Club in Las Vegas.

"They talk about how gold is used in computers and gold is used to make medical imaging equipment," Feldman said. "That's all very, very true, but most of the gold produced is used for jewelry. And they don't like to talk about some of the other issues."

Environmentalists want to be sure their side of the story is heard because Nevada has been identified by a conservative Canadian economic think tank as the most attractive place in the world for a mining investment.

The Vancouver, British Columbia-based Fraser Institute last month said Nevada finished first among 18 locations in a survey that asked mining companies about the best places for mineral potential and public policy.

The point of the survey, one of its authors said, was to show Canadians the role public policy has on the development of natural resources.

The survey graded different mining jurisdictions, pitting individual Canadian provinces and U.S. states against South and Central American countries and Australia.

Laura Jones, director of environmental studies for the Fraser Institute, said 26 percent of the 422 surveys were returned, including 23 responses from major mining operations and 88 from "junior companies" in the industry.

The survey gave Nevada the highest mark possible for mineral potential -- a gauge of not only the geological attractiveness of mining sites but of existing infrastructure to get to them.

The survey listed Nevada fourth behind the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Manitoba and the jurisdiction overseen by Quebec, Ontario, on policy potential.

The combined score placed Nevada highest above Quebec, Chile, Manitoba, Australia and Peru.

Latin countries, meanwhile, will see greater investments in the future, with 77.8 percent planning increases in Peru, 47.8 percent planning increases in Argentina and 43.8 percent increasing their stakes in Mexico.

Newmont Mining spokesman Doug Hock said the advantage to mining in Peru is that it is a young market, eager for development. Laborers are anxious to get mining jobs because of a worker participation bonus administered by the government -- a portion of profits are paid directly to workers.

Peru's disadvantage is the difficult working conditions -- the mine site is at 14,000 feet.

The advantage of Nevada, he said, is that regulators understand the industry and are easy to work with. The down side of Nevada is that because the industry is mature, costs tend to be higher.

The NMA's Fields said because Peru is home to some of the world's greatest gold deposits, companies will continue to look there for future stakes.

"When exploration dollars are shifting, there is the potential for investment money to leave the state and the country," he said.

Regulators are part of the equation, he added.

But the Sierra Club's Feldman is concerned that Nevada is taken advantage of in its bid to lure more industry to the state.

"California is doing a better job (of regulation), Idaho is doing a better job," she said. "We have so much biodiversity in the high desert of this state. I don't want to see Nevada taken advantage of by some of these companies."

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