Open-pit mining for gold, silver, gem stones and minerals occurs throughout Nevada.
Nevada--known as the Silver State, Sagebrush State and Battle Born State---has lured visitors from every country to its primary gambling and entertainment locales: Las Vegas, Reno and Mesquite. Other Nevada cities, however, sprung up throughout the state because hardy entrepreneurs migrated there to take advantage of its glut of natural resources. Nevada's diverse resources include recreational land, wilderness and agricultural properties, but mineable resources are its most profitable industry sector.
Silver, Gold and Copper
The U.S. Geological Association (USGS) lists the state as being the country's greatest producer of gold, which is primarily removed from the ground through open-pit mining and is a $5 billion and growing industry. In 2008, Nevada mining produced $119 million in silver, and $569 million in copper. The state's precious metals are used worldwide for everything from jewelry to wire.
Rock and Stone
Rock represents a $225 million-plus resource for the state. Nevada is also a source of gemstones, especially semi-precious opals and turquoise. An even larger market is aggregate---the earth from which the metals and minerals are extracted---which contains gravel, limestone which is used in cement, sand and other stone used for such purposes as construction.
Minerals
Nevada is an important source for barite, a mineral that is typically colorless or whitish and resembles calcium. Barite is used to produce barium, which is an important component of vacuum tubes, medical diagnostic equipment, the glass-making and rubber manufacturing processes and as a colorizing agent for paint. Gypsum, also a product of pit-mining aggregate and used for gypsum board or sheet rock, was a $15 million industry for Nevada by 2008.
Oil and Natural Gas
Petroleum was a $33 million resource in Nevada in 2008. The USGS estimated in 2005 that 1.6 billion gallons of oil, and 1.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are available in the Eastern Great Basin, 60 percent of which is in the state of Nevada.
Solar and Geothermal Power
Non-fuel energy production is an up-and-coming industry for the state. Geothermal production, which was a non-existent resource for Nevada in 1976, was a $350 million industry by 2008. Because the weather in Nevada is usually sunny, the state has the highest per person solar energy output in the country; as of 2010, the state has completed more than 600 solar projects.
Related posts
The largest export from the state of Nevada is gold.The state of Nevada has a surprising array of natural resources. Some of the country's most valuable resources, including precious metals, have...
Nevada is a desert state that is home to large amounts of valuable natural resources. Many different metals, including precious ones, are mined there and a diverse ecosystem allows both tourism an...
Water is our most abundant resource and the most important for our survival.Natural resources are the products of the planet that we utilize in industry and to live. Some of these are absolutely e...
Coal is a nonrenewable resource.Today there is a big push toward developing and using renewable resources. Once a nonrenewable resource is used it cannot be replaced. Oil, gas, coal and uranium ar...
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is carved from a giant hunk of granite laid down more than 2 billion years ago.The Black Hills area of South Dakota and Wyoming is varied geologically and rich in...
