Winnemucca Blog

Associated Press:

Mining employment in Nevada has topped 11,100 and is expected to climb more because of a major spike in gold prices.

The figure marks a 15.6 percent increase over the 2004 average, but is still short of the more than 14-thousand employees reported in 1996 and 1997.

Russ Fields of the Nevada Mining Association says the increase is largely a recovery from drastic cutbacks in past years.

Mining companies have reported a shortage of employees because of a mining boom spurred by soaring gold prices.

Newmont Mining and Barrick Gold have responded to the shortage by starting a mining academy for workers at a Winnemucca-area joint venture.

Nevada is the world’s third largest gold producer behind South Africa and Australia.