A Reno-based company, Solidus Resources, LLC, has applied to change the usage of water rights it owns in Pershing County from “irrigation” to “mining.” The proposed change has alarmed some residents, including DJ (Dan) Myers. The Pershing County Commissioners and others are protesting all 18 of their applications and plans on discussing the matter further at its next meeting May 15.
Myers’ ties to Nevada go way back. The walls of "The Ghost Town Saloon" in Midas display photos of his grandfather hauling the first ball mill to Coeur Rochester with a 20-mule team.
"We're both miners, but Dan has a history here. I've only been here eight years. Dan's uncle and grandfather are buried nearby," said Myers’ friend Chuck Cummins. Myers owns the Gold Diggers Saloon in Rye Patch where he and Cummins operate the Dusty Mine Project.
Cummins is a happily retired commercial pilot in his early 60s with shoulder-length white hair. He has been ringing a warning bell in the city and county meetings for the past few weeks and speaks with a sense of urgency.
Myers makes time to read the legal notices on the back pages of newspapers especially if they concern water rights. He taught Cummins to do the same. They urge rural Nevadans to buy whatever local newspaper is still hobbling along, turn to the back pages, and read.
"My expertise is mining claims, not water rights, but we have to watch water applications," Cummins said.
If the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior, history also rings warning bells.
Many Nevadans are unaware of what happened in Owens Valley around the turn of the 20th century.
In 1904, Los Angeles was thirsty. It had a population of about 200,000 and was running out of water. William Mulholland was in charge of making sure that didn't happen.
Mulholland and former Los Angeles Mayor Fred Eaton figured out how to tap the Owens River and divert the water across the desert and through the mountains more than 200 miles downstream to Los Angeles. It was all done by gravity.
Eaton bought the water rights from the farmers and ranchers but kept them in the dark about his ultimate plans. People figured it was just business as usual. They were wrong.
By the 1920s, LA had a population of 1 million thanks to the water that flowed through the aqueduct. Meanwhile, the economy of Owens Valley crumbled. Farms failed and investments tanked. The banks wouldn't loan money. Schools closed down.
The City of Los Angeles took all the water from the Owens River, causing the former Owens Lake to become a dry salt and alkali flat. It's helpful to know some intricacies of legal notices. If a person has irrigation water rights in Unionville and wants to transfer them to another well in Pershing County for irrigation purposes, that person doesn’t need a permit. However, to switch the manner of use from irrigation to mining, notice must be placed in the newspaper and given a 20-day comment period.
Additionally, an acre-foot of water is approximately 326,000 gallons. That's enough water to flood a football field (1.36 acres) one foot deep.
What Cummins saw in the legal notices of the Great Basin Sun gave him a jolt.
"I started seeing notices from Solidus Resources, LLC (Reno),” he said. “Over time, the Buena Vista farmers had sold their water rights. Now Solidus had the water rights and wanted to change their place and manner of use from irrigation to mining."
According to reports, Solidus plans to develop an open pit gold mine, the Spring Valley Mine Project, about 20 miles northeast of Lovelock in the Buena Vista Valley north of Coeur Rochester.
"They also want to convert the surface waters of Cottonwood and Indian Creek from irrigation to mining," Cummins said.
Cummins and Myers noticed that in January 2024, Solidus filed 18 applications for water rights with the Nevada Division of Water Resources (NDWR). Cummins added up the AFA (acre-feet annually) of the 18 applications and arrived at 32,000 AF of water rights.
Solidus vice president Joseph Martini disputes those numbers. In an email dated May 2, he said that Barrick Gold Exploration Inc. and Midway Gold US Inc. purchased the water rights in 2015.
"Solidus currently owns a total combined duty of 5,600 acre-feet per annum (AFA) of water. Of that, 5,560 AFA are irrigation rights and 40 AFA are mining and milling rights. Solidus is applying to change the manner of use of the irrigation rights so they can be used for mining and milling for a total combined duty of 5,560 AFA."
Martini added that Solidus has also applied for 15,968 AFA of nonconsumptive rights for dewatering purposes. He said the water that is pumped under these applications will return to the aquifer through infiltration. Pershing County has protested all 18 of Solidus's applications.
"It happens regularly because water is so scarce," said Commissioner Shayla Hudson. "All the basins are over-appropriated and many are over-pumped. Lovelock’s municipal water comes from the Oreana Basin. The north end of Buena Vista Valley drains into the Humboldt River so that affects the surface water. I’m concerned for the Imlay water with that much water being pulled out of basin 129.”
The Humboldt River Basin Water Authority (HRBWA) is protesting an application (93230) due to its possible effects on the Humboldt River.
HRBWA Executive Director Jeff Fontaine said by email, "The Spring Valley Mine Project is in Buena Vista Valley, which is part of the Central Hydrographic Region. The Central Nevada Regional Water Authority did not protest the application but will help Pershing County with their protests."
He included a copy of the Humboldt River Water Authority’s protest. It comments on the mine's dewatering rates, saying, "The mine anticipates using 15,968 AFA throughout the length of the project, albeit at declining rates. Effects of groundwater withdrawals of this magnitude could be extensive and affect groundwater. The Imlay area to the north is not separated by bedrock boundaries and could be susceptible to large scale groundwater withdrawals in the Buena Vista Valley via an alluvial aquifer."
The Nevada Division of Water Rights (NDWR) sent a letter informing Solidus of the protests. It is dated March 27, 2024. The letter states Solidus has 45 days from that date to respond.
"Solidus is preparing responses to the protests and will submit them before the May 11, 2024, deadline," said Martini by email. “We’ll also be doing a presentation at the Pershing County Commissioner’s meeting on May 15.”
Then it will be up to the NDWR to analyze the data in the protests and decide whether to hold a hearing in Carson City.
"Solidus" is Latin for a gold coin issued throughout the late Roman Empire. The company's LinkedIn profile connects to a website still under construction.
Solidus Resources is owned by Waterton Nevada Splitter, LLC, and Waterton Nevada Splitter II, LLC. "Together they've invested in over 75 mining projects in Nevada," said Martini.
Global investors and endowments back Solidus to the tune of billions with bases in Toronto and the Caymans.
Cummins has since escalated his concerns to the state level, writing to elected officials and asking for intervention.
"Our precious Nevada water is now in the control of these global investors," said Cummins in an email to Alexis Hansen, Nevada Assemblywoman District 32. "This transfer of individual water rights to the global hedge funds must be stopped in its tracks."
The mine expects to employ about 130 workers during construction and 250 full-time employees during operations. They're looking at two years of building, 11 years of mining, three years of ore processing, and 13 years of closure and reclamation activities, all while contributing to the area’s economic diversification and financial base.
Commissioner Larry Rackley summed up what he sees as an even bigger plus with one word - "taxes." In 2021, lawmakers passed AB495 to raise taxes on the mining industry and direct more money to education.
Commissioner Hudson refers to maintaining a balance. Cummins and Myers remain skeptical.
"They're doing a mining project but their number one focus was getting that water and using the mining project as a reason," Cummins said.
In March, Myers and Cummins met with the upper management of Solidus in Lovelock. They had questions about the long-term impact of the Spring Valley Mine.
The meeting did not go well, according to both parties: Solidus's team described Cummins's demeanor as "combative." He found them evasive and condescending.
In the May 2 email, Martini said a comprehensive groundwater model was prepared as part of the permitting process.
“It showed that activities at the Spring Valley Project would have no connection to the Humboldt River or the town of Lovelock,” he said. "The 5,560 AFA of irrigation water owned by Solidus is currently leased to a single irrigator in the basin. Part of the water is used on the irrigator's farm and the rest is used by the same irrigator on a farm owned by Solidus.
“Once the manner of use of water is changed to mining and milling, the irrigator will continue to operate their farm with water rights they own. The farm owned by Solidus will no longer operate. The irrigator agreed to this arrangement several years ago. No other farmers in the basin will be affected," said Martini. "Any approval by the NDWR of Solidus's proposed changes will not impact the rights of farmers in Unionville to irrigate their fields."
Cummins isn't waiting to find out if the NDWR orders a hearing. He contacted state senators Ira and Alexis Hansen and Mark Amodei from the House of Representatives. Senator Ira Hansen may attend the May 15 County Commissioner’s meeting.