Why is Nevada Gold Mines one of Lombardo's top donors in governor's race?

Nevada Gold Mines donated $500,000 to a PAC affiliated with Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) in March, making the mining conglomerate one of the Republican governor's top donors in his bid for re-election.

The dollars brought the company's cumulative donations to Lombardo's PAC to $1 million, the largest single recipient of the group's money. Former Gov. Steve Sisolak's (D) PAC accrued $750,000 from the conglomerate, while ex-Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) tallied $175,000 in donations from the company and its affiliated groups.

The latest cash infusion has raised more questions in comments on news articles and other online spaces than usual because it followed the firing of Adam Sullivan, the top official responsible for regulating water rights in the state after the mining industry complained about him to the governor's office.

Mining is the sixth-highest revenue-producing industry in the Silver State, behind sectors including casinos and healthcare. Nevada Gold Mines is a joint venture between Barrick and Newmont that controls 22 underground and surface mines in Northern Nevada.

"It's hospitality and resource management — that's the Nevada economy," UNLV political science professor Ken Miller said. "That's where you expect the political money to come from."

But it's often difficult for political scientists to parse whether a political contribution is because of a particular action or because a person simply holds a position of power, Miller said.

The Indy's analysis shows that Nevada Gold Mines typically gives money to incumbent governors regardless of political party. In 2022, for example, it gave $250,000 to the pro-Sisolak PAC compared with $5,000 to Lombardo.

"It looks like they donate to who's in office," Miller said.

Lombardo's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Quid pro quo or business as usual?

The mining industry's complaints to Lombardo's office related to a draft proposal by the former state water engineer designed as a "starting point" for public input to reduce groundwater pumping in the Humboldt River Basin, site of many Nevada Gold Mines properties. The basin has been over-allocated, meaning there are more water rights than water to go around. 

Conflicts have erupted between long-standing "senior" rights and newer, more junior rights. Senior water-right holders who were entitled to certain deliveries were not receiving them.

Water law gives the state one tool to address that: Curtail junior water rights until senior water rights have been made whole.

Critics, such as the mining industry, have argued that curtailment will harm the region's economic stability and job-growth potential, while conservationists say that it's necessary to protect the already scarce and dwindling resource in the nation's driest state.

Asked about the donation in April, Nevada Gold Mines said it has a "long, bipartisan track record of supporting candidates for public office who understand the complex issues facing Nevada's mining industry." It also said communications with Lombardo's office represent standard operations.

"Stakeholders throughout Nevada regularly alert the Governor's office when there are major issues that can affect the state," Christina Erling, an executive with Barrick, told The Nevada Independent in an April email.

The state engineer was fired last December. The $500,000 donation came on March 5, according to campaign finance records.

Although Miller did not have enough information to comment on this specific case, he noted that the timing of the donation seems to largely line up with past large-scale contributions.

"The weird timing might be when the Lombardo administration acted on the water engineer. Why did they make that decision when they made it?" Miller said. "Because it appears Nevada Gold Mines is doing what they always do."

Donation history

Nevada Gold Mines formed in 2019 as a joint venture between Barrick and Newmont. Together, those groups have donated more than $5.7 million to Nevada political candidates in the past two decades, according to a Nevada Independent analysis of campaign finance data.

About half of that money went to Republican candidates or affiliated groups, while 42 percent went to Democrats. The rest went to organizations with no political affiliation — mostly a PAC tied to the mining industry.

However, donations to legislators also underscored that the company tends to donate to those in positions of power, rather than any particular party.

The industry typically aligns more with Republicans. But across the past decade, more than half of the legislative donations from Nevada Gold Mines, Barrick and Newmont went to Democrats, who have controlled both chambers since 2016.

In the 2024 election cycle, the mining industry was the 12th-largest donor to legislators, and more than half of those dollars came from Nevada Gold Mines. About 58 percent of the industry's donations went to Democrats during that cycle.

Miller said this is not surprising.

"Even if they may not be as friendly, they are gonna be the ones ultimately making the decisions," he said.

Major donations have also come in amid efforts that would affect the industry. Critics have long complained that mining has a "sweetheart deal" enshrined in the Nevada Constitution — taxes are capped at 5 percent of net proceeds after business expenses are deducted, rather than on gross proceeds.

2020 was the year with the most spending. That year, lawmakers during a special session took preliminary steps to increase the state's mining tax, setting the table for the issue to return in the 2021 legislative session. Lawmakers eventually reached a deal in 2021 to increase the tax, which was expected to bring in $500 million for education funding.

Nevada Gold Mines, Barrick and Newmont's political activity soared after the 2020 session, accounting for more than 20 percent of its all-time spending. They donated $500,000 to a PAC run by Sisolak, gave $250,000 to a prominent Republican PAC and another $80,000 to lawmakers from both parties, but mostly Republicans.

"There are a lot of industries that aren't necessarily touched by government too much," Miller said. "Mining is touched by government a lot."