Mining Company at Rhyolite, Nevada Completes Mining Operations

On December 31, 1998, active mining ceased at Rhyolite, Nevada. The
Barrick Mining Company, headquartered in Canada, has completed their
mining activities there and will now focus on milling the remaining ore,
reclamation and cleanup. It is expected to take them 12-18 months to
complete this process.

Barrick also traded the Bureau of Land Management the old Las Vegas &
Tonopah Railroad depot in Rhyolite for ownership of the land under their
large leech pad, a move to extend the deadline for environmental cleanup.

Barrick Mining Company took over the Rhyolite operations of LAC Minerals
Company in 1991, who had been mining in Rhyolite since 1989. Preceding
LAC was the Australia based Bond International Gold Incorporated
(originally called Dallhold Resources Inc.), who beginning in 1987
constructed the milling facilities at the south end of Ladd Mountain,
about a mile from the Rhyolite townsite. Bond purchased rights to mine
from St. Joe Minerals Corporation, who did the exploratory work beginning
with their purchase of the Montgomery Shoshone Mine in 1983.

Mining operations were contained to the east side of Rhyolite in the Ladd
Mountain and Montgomery-Shoshone Mine vicinities, with some mining
running out west of Rhyolite on the south slopes of Bonanza Mountain, in
the Bullfrog townsite. All historical structures within Bullfrog and
Rhyolite were unmolested, although many structures were fenced off behind
chainlink fences during the mining period. The small population living
in the Rhyolite and Bullfrog townsites continue to live there.

During this time the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad grade between Rhyolite
and Beatty and on the south end of Bonanza Mountain was closed off to the
public. It has been reopened for travel, although a small part of the
route is missing on Bonanza Mountain.

David A. Wright - Great Basin Research
w/input by Claudia Reidhead - Beatty (NV) Historical Society
and Bill Miller - Beatty (NV) Historical Society

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David A. Wright
Great Basin Research