Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/1207716
34 www.resourceworld.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 2 0 T hree years ago, when Ely Gold Royalties Inc. [ELY-TSXV; ELYGF- OTCBB] acquired a basket of properties in Nevada and adjacent US states, Ely CEO Trey Wasser was sure that his company had chosen the right jurisdiction. "If Nevada was a country, it would be the fourth largest gold producing country in the world, behind Russia, China, and Australia," Wasser said. "You can mine and explore there most of the year and it's easy to get there and easy to travel once you are there." The decision to acquire 31 properties in the Nevada region paid off for Ely Gold last year when the emerging royalty com- pany saw its share price rise to 46 cents on December 30, 2019, from 13 cents in February, 2019. Backed by an investor group that includes financiers Eric Sprott and Rick Rule, Ely Gold is far from being the only company that has found a way to create value for shareholders by putting a focus on the Western US. Last year, two of the world's lead- ing gold producers, Barrick Gold Corp. [ABX-TSX; GOLD-NYSE] and Newmont Goldcorp Corp. [NGT-TSX, NEM-NYSE], agreed to fold key Nevada assets into a joint venture that will rank as the world's largest production centre by a wide mar- gin. The hope is it will deliver annual cost savings of around US $500 million. Rio Tinto Plc [RIO-NYSE] also made headlines by approving a US $1.5 billion investment to continue production at its Kennecott copper operation southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. The investment over the next six years will extend operations at Kennecott, which has been in production since 1906, out to 2032. Elsewhere in the western US, Northern Vertex Mining Corp. [NEE-TSXV] placed their Moss gold-silver mine into produc- tion 80 miles southeast of La Vegas and in-situ copper mining operations are underway at the Excelsior Mining Corp. [MIN-TSXV; EXMGF-OTCQX] at the Gunnison Project 60 miles southeast of Tucson, Arizona. Excelsior has said the Gunnison Project has the potential to be one of North America's lowest-cost copper mines, with expected production of 124 million pounds of copper cathode annually. Below are other exploration and mining companies in the Western USA. Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. [PZG- NYSE American] is moving to re-awaken a slumbering gold mining industry in Oregon by developing a small high-grade gold mine in Malheur County, approxi- mately 25 miles southeast of Vale. Abacus Mining and Exploration Exploration and Mining in the Western USA by Peter Kennedy