Comstock mining could be expanded

Gold and silver mining could be significantly expanded near Virginia City after a request by Comstock Mining Inc., was recently approved by Storey County officials.

Tuesday's unanimous vote by the Storey County Commission should allow the company that brought mining back to the Comstock two years ago to tap two rich ore deposits and substantially increase mining and ore processing in what company executives describe as a milestone.

"It is a watershed event for us," said Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining's president and chief executive officer.

Mining critics counter that they won significant concessions on environmental safeguards and other concerns surrounding mining activity and that Comstock Mining still faces a lengthy process before it can realistically expand mining into the new areas.

"There are a lot of hurdles Comstock Mining still must jump over before there will be actual mining in the new locations and we anticipate that will take years," said Joe McCarthy of the Comstock Residents Association.

"There are a lot of hurdles. They still have quite a steep hill to climb," McCarthy said.

The permit granted by Storey County will expand the potential boundary of operations in the area of Comstock Mining's Lucerne start-up mine and nearby ore-processing site from 180 acres to more than 1,200 acres, according to the company.

The American Flat processing site can grow from 78 acres to about 400, expanding to the south and west.

It also allows for re-alignment of Nevada 342 to access ore deposits beneath and to the immediate east of the highway's current alignment.

Permitted changes, De Gasperis said, will allow access to the Woodville Bonanza – the last of more than 30 bonanza-grade deposits discovered on the Comstock during its heyday.

Mined from 1872 to 1875, Woodville is showing increasing promise for future mining, he said.

The company will also be able to tap the recently discovered "Chute Zone," a small but highly concentrated ore deposit that could produce millions of dollars worth of gold and silver over a relatively short period of time, De Gasperis said.

The Chute Zone is about 1,000 feet from Woodville.

The company plans to mine both areas through underground shafts as opposed to the open pit mining underway at the Lucerne site since August 2012.

"This will accelerate underground development," De Gasperis said.

Until its footprint was expanded, mining activity in the area would have lasted maybe two or three years, De Gasperis said.

"Now it could be decades. It should be decades," De Gasperis said. "It secures the future of the company."

Convinced significant mineral resources remained buried in the Comstock, the company in 2003 began acquiring property and mining rights across 6,000 acres near Virginia City at Gold Hill, Silver City and other nearby areas, with active mining starting two summers ago.

So far in 2014, the company reports it has poured some 12,500 ounces of gold and more than 138,500 ounces of silver after processing ore pulled from its open pit in Storey County.

Comstock Mining hopes to expand operations south into Lyon County, where it owns or has secured mineral rights on some 1,600 acres .

In January, the Lyon County Commission approved zoning adjustments and a change in the county's master plan that could serve as an initial step to allow mining in the Silver City area.

The Comstock Residents Association sued weeks later in effort to overturn that decision, with a hearing in the case planned soon in District Court.