The Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG) carried out its biennial online survey of companies exploring for new metal, industrial mineral, geothermal, and hydrocarbon resources in Nevada. The Nevada Commission on Mineral Resources and the Nevada Division of Minerals supported the survey. The impact of mineral and energy production on the Nevada economy is well known. However, the impacts of exploration activities in Nevada, which focus on discovering new resources for future mines and energy extraction, is poorly understood due to limited data. In contrast to the majority of the sectors driving the Nevadan economy, exploration activity is primarily focused in rural areas and can have a substantial impact on the local economies. Research done by S&P Global Market Intelligence (2021, 2022) shows that Nevada remains the state with the largest mineral exploration budgets in the United States with budget gains outpacing global averages. Coinciding with Nevada’s top tier status with regards to exploration budgets, the Fraser Institute’s annual survey ranked Nevada as the 1st best jurisdiction in the world for mineral investment attractiveness, a factor which considers policies and regulations affecting exploration and mining activities alongside a region’s geologic potential.
Exploration activities are commonly known to be high risk, as investments are not guaranteed to result in success, but can have significant rewards. When companies achieve the rare success of discovering an ore deposit, considerable time and financing is required to put the deposit into production. Despite the unknowns that affect exploration, exploration is a crucial process in sustaining natural resource industries in Nevada and the growing demands of industrial society both nationally and globally.
The goal of this survey is to assess the impact of exploration on Nevada’s economy in 2021 and 2022, with the primary focus on expenditures and employment. The survey asks participants to break down their expenditures by category, helping understand where the money goes, and to rate the external factors that contribute to their exploration company’s decision to work in Nevada. Companies surveyed are primarily junior explorers followed by midsize and major mining companies. The geothermal, oil and gas, and industrial mineral industries are underrepresented in this survey based on response rates.
The NBMG requested surveys from 169 companies, of which 142 explore for metals, 16 for geothermal, and 11 for oil and gas. Of these companies, 70 responded to the survey. Another 58 active companies were researched using financial disclosures in the public domain. Thus, the data from 128 companies exploring in Nevada are presented in this report.
Read the full report for the results of the survey.
Exploration survey 2021/2022 flyer:http://www.nbmg.unr.edu/_docs/es2022flyer.pdfView previous surveys here:
Front cover (photo by Jack Hursh):
View southeast from the West Humboldt Range (darker two-thirds of the photo) over the Stillwater Range in the middle ground and the Clan Alpine Mountains in the far distance.
Suggested citation:
Fisher, T., 2023, Nevada mineral and energy resource exploration survey 2021/2022: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Exploration Survey ES-2022, 19 p.
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