The W. M. Keck Museum, Mackay School of Mines, will receive the official 50 millionth ounce of gold mined from the Carlin trend in a special presentation, &#8220A Golden Landmark,&#8221 on Thursday, May 16 from 6-8 p.m.

Coin No. 001, the first of the 100 one-ounce coins struck to commemorate the historic milestone, will remain in the museum's permanent collection.

&#8220The fifty million ounces of gold extracted from the Carlin trend were sold for the equivalent of $20 billion in today's dollars,&#8221 said Jon Price, state geologist and director of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology. &#8220This is a truly remarkable achievement for the local economy, for the country and for the Mackay School of Mines,&#8221 he said.

According to John Dobra, director of the University of Nevada, Reno's Natural Resources Industry Institute, the estimated expenditures for goods and services required directly and indirectly by the mining operations increased the economic benefit to $34 billion in today's dollars.
&#8220The Carlin trend is one of the world's leading mining districts,&#8221 Price notes. &#8220It is a belt of gold deposits, primarily in the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, that is about 5 miles wide and 40 miles long, extending in a north-northwest direction through the town of Carlin, Nevada,&#8221 he added.

Gold was first discovered in the area in the 1870s, but the Carlin mine did not begin production until 1965. Today, the Carlin trend produces close to 4 million ounces of gold annually, contributing $1.8 billion to Nevada's economy, Price noted. Mines on the Carlin trend are operated by Newmont Mining Corporation, Barrick Goldstrike Mines, Inc., and Glamis Gold, Ltd.

The special presentation at the museum is sponsored by Cashman Equipment Company, Converse Consultants, Environmental & Resource Management, Richard and Ann Marie Harris, Hydrologic Sciences Graduate Program, Kappes Cassidy & Associates, Charlie and Jane C. S. Long (dean of the Mackay School of Mines), Mining Life-Cycle Center, Ralph J. Roberts Center for Research in Economic Geology, Sierra Nevada Concrete Association, Sparks Florist, Larry and Terri Garside, and Dr. and Mrs. James V. Taranik.
For more information contact Rachel Dolbier, museum curator, (775) 784-4528.

By Melanie Supersano, (775) 784-7030; <a href="mailto: msupersano@adv.unr.edu"> msupersano@adv.unr.edu</a>