Comstock Mining

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Different Roles in the Common Goal

When a company and its surrounding community have aligned goals for the region, a comradery emerges in an arena that often doesn’t see true partnerships. Although the Comstock Lode region—in the Virginia mountain range in Nevada—was slow to warm to Comstock Mining, the community, this company, and the foundation it created (The Comstock Foundation for History and Culture) work together to sustainably mine the region and preserve the history and landscape that has been so important to both the American and global mining industry since the 1800s.

History of the Comstock Region and Comstock Mining

In 1859 the U.S.’s largest deposit of silver ore—the Comstock Lode—was discovered in the Virginia Range. The region is known for launching the fame of the Four Silver Kings, Mark Twain, and famed San Francisco mayor and Comstock Renaissance man, Adolph Sutro, among so many others, and producing the purest silver in the world. The Comstock Lode is notable not just for the immense fortunes it generated and the large role those fortunes had in the growth of Nevada and San Francisco, but also for the advances in mining technology that it spurred, such as square set timbering and the Washoe process for extracting silver from ore. Several different mining companies have laid claims in the area over the past 150 years and have also laid waste to portions of one of the most profound segments of U.S. mining history.

With the idea to consolidate these vast, disparate mine claims into one company, Comstock Mining began business 13 years ago. Now with almost 10 square miles of land, hundreds of claims and two significant, established resources, Comstock Mining is in its third year of production with its Lucerne Mine and deeply into the process of exploration drilling and development of its high-grade targets.

Although the common approach to exploration drilling and mining is to drill and develop as many potential targets as possible as fast as possible, Comstock Mining has focused its development on a very small part of its land position, and is committed to reclaiming and restoring the territory concurrently as it drills and mines sections of its property. The company has produced around 20,000 ounces of gold a year and about 250,000 ounces of silver per year, well below what many expect a mining company to turn over. Because he seeks to have his company grow at a measured, profitable pace, Corrado De Gasperis, President and CEO of Comstock Mining, identified a more important reason to operate on this moderated level.

“There’s a pervasive distrust of industry, particularly mining, in this region,” he said. “That’s why Comstock Mining has established a culture that genuinely cares for this community, and is dedicated to preserving its history and developing our mines responsibly. We needed first to prove to the community that we would mine responsibly, albeit on a smaller scale, and we have, before we were recently allowed to expand our permits.

“But we also don’t ever want to create scarcity, in other words to take from the land without a plan for restoration,” said Corrado DeGasperis, President and CEO’ of Comstock Mining. “We know that when we are drilling a hole or disturbing land for a haul road or mining, that we can’t take from the land in a way that diminishes the territory. There must be a net, sustainable benefit to the community. The reclamations and restorations may not look exactly the same, but we are committing to plans that leave the land in better condition after we restore it. We’re committed to not harming the territory, helping preserve and restore the historic buildings on the property, and reclaiming the land that has been scarred by this industry.”

This company-wide philosophy of sustainability, that every transaction, interaction, or activity creates wealth or benefit and not scarcity, is one of the pillars of the business. The other two—avoiding a big rigid hierarchal structure by operating systemically as one team, and considering all stakeholders as key components of that system and continuously planning, checking and looking for breakthroughs outside of convention—contribute to a pervasive culture of caring not typical in the mining industry.

The Foundation of Comstock Foundation

In 2013, Comstock Mining took this level of care a step further by establishing the Comstock Foundation for History and Culture. The Foundation encourages the preservation and promotion of historic and cultural resources within the Virginia City National Historic Landmark District, and is dedicated to the acquisition, restoration, preservation, and maintenance of historic structures and objects; excavation of historic sites in collaboration with qualified individuals and groups; community outreach through advocacy and celebrations of the history of the Comstock and its Western Mining culture; and collaboration activities within the Comstock Lode District that support preservation and advocacy of historic resources.