When Elaine Barkdull Spencer's two sons were growing up, she vowed they would never work in gold mining because of its capricious cycles of boom and bust.

These days, both sons are in the industry and Barkdull Spencer isn't complaining. One of them, who is 27, earns $100,000 a year and the other, who is 25, makes $90,000.

It is hard to outshine gold in rural northeastern Nevada. With prices at record levels on a weak dollar, inflation concerns and US economic uncertainty, the town of Elko (population 22,000) is enjoying a boom.

"We're at the peak of our cycle," Barkdull Spencer said.

Long overshadowed by Nevada's famed casino capital Las Vegas and its second city Reno, the Elko region (population 40,000) has become North America's top gold producer without generating much fanfare elsewhere in the United States.

By contrast, Las Vegas, 750 kilometres to the south, has lured hundreds of thousands of newcomers in recent years hoping to strike it rich in one of the American West's fastest growing cities. Yet the Vegas mood has soured amid tumbling home prices and a glut of "for sale" signs hitting the street.

About 60 percent of Elko people work for the mines or their subcontractors, putting good, steady money in their pockets.

Houses are in short supply, although cheaper homes still sell for less than $200,000. "We're victims of our success right now," Elko Mayor Michael Franzoia said in an interview. "There is not enough housing to meet demand." The mines are struggling to find enough qualified workers, and other firms offering lower wages, such as hotels, stores and pizzerias have had trouble finding people willing to work.

Even Elko boosters concede the remote area is not for everyone. The desert weather turns bitter cold in winter and baking hot on summer days and Salt Lake City and Reno are four hours away by car.

Andrea Ouchi, 28, who moved to Elko from Canada a year ago to work more than 300 meters underground at Goldstrike, gives Elko a good review.

She enjoys skiing, hiking and riding off-road in the sparsely populated region. "The people here are the most friendly, inviting people, although a bit redneck," she said.

Singer Bing Crosby once owned ranches in Elko County, but such celebrity is absent today in a town clustered around Route 80, the highway connecting San Francisco to the rest of the country.

The biggest long-term fear is that gold prices will fall in the future and hurt the local economy. Gold hit a record of $1,030 a troy ounce on March 17, and has since fallen to around $950.

"Six or seven years ago when the price of gold was way down, the mines were laying off a lot of people," said Charlie Seemann, executive director of the Western Folklife Center in Elko.

As executive director of the Elko County Economic Diversification Authority, Barkdull Spencer is now working on attracting non-mining businesses in preparation for the other side of the cycle.

Agencies

(China Daily 03/28/2008 page10)