AngloGold Ashanti addresses Beatty Town Advisory Board

AngloGold Ashanti representative Steve Yopps has compared one of the company’s proposed gold mining projects, called the Expanded Silicone, to the mine in Round Mountain, saying that it could have an operational life of forty to fifty years. He made this statement during a presentation at the April 14 Beatty Town Advisory Board meeting.

Water is a key resource needed for the mining operation, and Yopps was before the board to seek its support for the drilling of a reconnaissance well near the Beatty airport.

Yopps said that hydrologists had identified the location as favorable. He also said that they were hoping to be able to identify strata that would avoid naturally-occurring fluoride and arsenic.

If the well is successful, the company would then create a water rights proving ground, planting an alfalfa crop to prove beneficial use, with the goal of converting permitted water rights to certificated water rights. The well could eventually be turned over to the Beatty Water and Sewer District, with which AngloGold could have a water use agreement.

Yopps said that the EW4 well gifted to Beatty when the Barrick Bullfrog Mine closed, has become “tired,” producing much less than its original capacity, and that, overall, Beatty is leaving some 870 acre feet per annum unused.

Erika Gerling, who recently resigned from the BTAB, phoned in questions for Yopps and mused, “I don’t have a crystal ball. You don’t have a crystal ball. Are we going to have enough water for growth?”

Beatty Water and Sanitation Board member Frank Jarvis said that the utility was in support of the drilling of the well.

The board voted unanimously to issue a letter of support for the project.

They also approved spending up to $15,000 for this year’s Fourth of July fireworks display and up to $4,000 for double-jacket fire hose for the Beatty Volunteer Fire Department and provided $1,000 for the Beatty Schools Donor Club.

The board approved sending a letter of support for Goldwell Open Air Museum’s Travel Nevada Rural Marketing Grant application to fund two way-finding signs along Rhyolite Road.

They also voted to send a letter to Megan Labadie, Nye County natural resources director, to support Humboldt County’s opposition to the endangered species listing of a small butterfly, the bleached sandhill skipper.

They also agreed to send a letter to state legislative representatives in support of Assembly Bill 69, which would delay the sunseting of the Nye County Public Safety Sales Tax until 2040.

In board-related business, they approved their 2026 fiscal year budget with a couple of small changes, and they set April 16-30 as the period during which to advertise the open seat on the board and to accept letters of interest.

Richard Stephens is a freelance reporter living in Beatty.