Tonopah primed for mining renaissance as precious metals attract prospectors
The sleepy desert town of Tonopah’s fortunes have been closely tied to mining. Credit: Henry Lazenby.
In the dimly lit Jack Dempsey dinner hall of the 1906 Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah, Nevada, a group of miners, financiers, analysts and the media recently convened to explore the redevelopment of the district’s remaining mineral potential, marking the first meeting of its kind in over a century.
The group had gathered to delve into the underlying and surrounding rocks of the town, which played a pivotal role in the rise and fall of this desert hamlet’s mining development.
“Nevada became a state as a result of the Comstock – the silver paid for the Civil War and the winning of the Union,” said Bill Howard, executive chairman of Blackrock Silver (TSXV: BRC) during a June site visit. “It’s often said that if Comstock made Nevada, the Tonopah silver deposits were what paid for keeping Nevada a state. That’s why we’re called the ‘Silver State.’”
Nestled in the heart of Nevada, the Tonopah region holds a rich historical mining legacy and an equally promising future.
Below the town, underneath its historical buildings in the surrounding Esmerelda and Nye counties, remain rich gold and silver deposits which again make sense to explore given the use of new technology and higher metals prices. And there’s a newcomer to the party – high-grade lithium clays abound towards the north, west and south of Tonopah, which have sent local prospectors into a spin with the potential EV windfall.
