Geochemical characterization and geospatial inventory of nevadas mine waste sites 2025PROJECT period: 9 30 2025 through 3 31 2027AWARD purpose: this agreement will support the identification of mine…

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) awarded the Board of Regents of Nevada System of Higher Education (operating as University of Nevada, Reno) $355,615 through the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (CFDA 15.073) to identify and characterize mine waste sites in Nevada with high potential for critical mineral extraction. Under this Cooperative Agreement (Award Date: September 30, 2025; Completion Date: March 31, 2027), the recipient will catalog and quantify mine waste at sites within Nevada's approximately 300,000 mine and mineral processing locations, and conduct detailed geochemical and mineralogical characterization of eight high-potential sites to determine critical, base, and precious mineral abundances.

Deliverables include expansions to Nevada's catalog of known mine sites with location data, mineral system details, and waste volume assessments, along with completed characterization of the eight priority sites documenting their critical mineral production potential. These products will support federal and state governments' efforts to develop secure domestic critical mineral supply chains by converting problematic mine waste into quantified mineral resources, with all data compiled for public availability and integration into relevant national databases.

Activities

The project will undertake cataloging (priority 1) and characterization (priority 2) of mine waste sites within the state of nevada in order to both identify and determine the nature and type of waste present at some of the 300,000 mine and mineral processing sites in the state as well as characterize and quantify the critical, base and precious mineral potential of these sites.deliverables and expected outcomes: deliverables will include additions to the catalog of known mine sites within nevada and the characterization of eight mining and mineral processing sites with high potential for the future production of critical minerals. Expected outcomes are the quantification of the critical metal potential and mineralogy of the high potential sites and the addition of data to the nevada catalog of mine and mineral processing sites, including locations, details of mineral systems, and the amount of mine waste present.intended beneficiary(IES): this research will benefit federal and state governments, both of whom are working on characterizing the critical mineral potential of the US. The publicly available nature of the data will also directly benefit the minerals industry and other private industry stakeholders, who are looking to target mine waste sites as potential locations for the domestic extraction of critical metals.

Subrecipient activities

The subrecipient for this project is the nevada division of environmental protection, who will directly contribute to priority 1 activities focused on cataloging mine waste sites in nevada