CARSON CITY, Nev. Nevada’s mining industry paid a record $312.8 million in net proceeds tax on its 2025 operations, according to the Nevada Department of Taxation’s 2025-26 Net Proceeds of Minerals Bulletin, published July 30.
That is a 64% jump from the $190.8 million collected on 2024 operations, according to Nevada Current’s Sept. 22 analysis of the same tax, a figure this publication independently recalculated from the state bulletin and confirmed.
But two numbers this publication checked against the state’s own data suggest 2026 will not repeat the feat. Gold, which combined with silver drives 93.7% of the tax base, is trading almost exactly where it ended 2025. Diesel, the fuel that runs Nevada’s open-pit mines, is not.
How a Gold Mine Gets Taxed in Nevada
Nevada does not tax the gold that comes out of the ground. It taxes what is left over after a mine subtracts its operating costs, a figure the state calls net proceeds. In 2025, the state’s net-to-gross ratio, the share of a mine’s gross value that survived those deductions, jumped to 47.32%, up from 34.63% in 2024, per the Department of Taxation bulletin.
That is what actually produced the revenue jump: mines got to keep less of their gross value as deductible costs shrank relative to soaring gold prices, so more of that value became taxable.
Run the same math in reverse, and rising costs do the opposite. That is the mechanism now working against Nevada in 2026.
How the Net Proceeds Tax Works
- Nevada taxes a mine’s gross value minus its allowed operating deductions, not its raw production value.
- Fuel, labor, equipment and other extraction costs all count as deductions that shrink the taxable base.
- When mineral prices rise faster than costs, the deductible share of gross value shrinks and more revenue becomes taxable.
- When costs, like diesel, rise faster than prices, the opposite happens and taxable net proceeds shrink even if production holds steady.
- The tax is split 53% to the counties where mining occurs and 47% to the state, per the Department of Taxation.
Where the $313 Million Came From
Nevada’s 2025 gold production was worth $12.2 billion, up 26% from 2024’s $9.7 billion, Nevada Current reported, driven by gold’s 2025 average price of $3,432 an ounce, itself up 43.8% from 2024.
Gold and silver combined made up 93.70% of the state’s net proceeds, with copper adding 4.54% and geothermal and other minerals splitting the remainder, according to the Department of Taxation bulletin.
That revenue is not evenly spread. Nevada’s rural mining counties, not Clark or Washoe, hold nearly all of it.
| County | Share of 2025 net proceeds | Net proceeds value |
|---|---|---|
| Eureka | 26.88% | $1,685,358,831 |
| Lander | 24.28% | $1,522,561,805 |
| Humboldt | 23.66% | $1,483,426,664 |
| White Pine | 9.92% | $622,196,929 |
| Elko | 9.30% | $583,298,254 |
| All other counties combined | 5.96% | about $373 million |
Those five counties alone accounted for 94.05% of the $6.27 billion in net proceeds reported by mine operators for 2025, a separate figure from the additional $309.7 million in royalty net proceeds the state also reported, according to the Department of Taxation.
Gold Isn’t Actually Higher This Year
A reader could assume 2025’s record tax year simply continues into 2026 because gold keeps making headlines. The state’s own price data says otherwise. Gold hit an all-time intraday high of $5,405 an ounce on Jan. 29, 2026, according to the World Gold Council’s LBMA-based tracking, then fell to $4,001.80 an ounce by June 25, a drop of about 26% from that peak. The council itself described gold as “down roughly 7%” for the year as of late June.
Gold has since recovered some ground. It traded at $4,330 an ounce as of midday Sept. 22, according to Kitco’s live spot price, which this publication checked against 2025’s own year-end close of $4,323 an ounce.
That puts gold up less than two-tenths of one percent since 2025 ended, essentially flat after a round trip through an all-time high and a 26% crash.
The World Gold Council’s own mid-year outlook projects gold trading within 5% of $4,100 an ounce through the rest of 2026, a level below where the price sat for most of 2025’s second half.
In other words, the metal that generated 2025’s windfall has not gotten meaningfully more valuable. Whatever happens to 2026’s mining tax revenue will not be because gold got cheaper to mine relative to its price. It will hinge on costs, and one cost has moved far more than gold has.
Diesel Is Up Nearly 72% From Last September
Nevada’s statewide average diesel price reached $6.82 a gallon on Sept. 21, according to AAA data, up from $3.97 a gallon a year earlier, an increase this publication calculated at 71.9%. Reno’s average hit $7.01 a gallon and Las Vegas hit $6.81, both records for the state, per the same AAA figures.
Three days earlier, on Sept. 18, Fox5 Vegas reported the statewide average at $6.71 a gallon, already a 69% year-over-year jump, and quoted independent truck driver Luis Mercado, who said a fill-up that used to cost him $400 to $500 now runs “over $1,000.” Mercado said freight rates would have to rise if diesel does not come down, a cost that eventually reaches consumers.
Nevada’s mines run almost entirely on diesel, from haul trucks to generators, and diesel is a deductible operating expense under the net proceeds formula. A cost that has risen 72% in a year shrinks the same taxable base that gold’s flat price is no longer expanding.
The spike is largely a Nevada and West Coast problem, not a national one. The national average diesel price stood at just $3.52 a gallon in January 2026, actually down slightly from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Nevada’s price surged separately, driven in part by its dependence on California refineries. The CALNEV pipeline supplies roughly 90% of Las Vegas’s refined fuel from California, where diesel averaged $8.04 a gallon as of mid-September, according to Hoodline’s reporting.
Washoe County added its own cost on top: a voter-approved regional fuel tax, known as RTC-5, added 58 cents a gallon starting July 1, according to the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County, which said the tax funds more than $558 million in roadway projects over five years.
None of the coverage of Nevada’s mining tax revenue and none of the coverage of the state’s record diesel prices has connected the two using the state’s own net proceeds mechanism. They are the same story told from opposite ends: one input to Nevada’s biggest rural tax base went flat this year, and the other went up 72%.
Sourcing: Statewide 2025 net proceeds tax total ($312,794,144), combined net proceeds ($6,269,879,583 from operators plus $309,676,350 in royalties), the net-to-gross ratio comparison (47.32% in 2025 versus 34.63% in 2024), the county-by-county net proceeds breakdown, the mineral-type breakdown (gold and silver 93.70%, copper 4.54%), and the 53%/47% county-state tax split are all drawn directly from the Nevada Department of Taxation’s 2025-26 Net Proceeds of Minerals Bulletin, published July 30, 2026, fetched directly. The 2024 net proceeds tax total ($190.8 million), the 2025 and 2024 gold production values ($12.2 billion and $9.7 billion), and the 26% production increase are drawn from Nevada Current’s Sept. 22, 2026 analysis, fetched directly; the 64% year-over-year revenue increase was independently recalculated from the state bulletin’s 2025 figure and Nevada Current’s cited 2024 figure and matched Nevada Current’s own framing. The 2025 average gold price ($3,432 an ounce, up 43.8% from 2024) and 2025 year-end close ($4,323) are drawn from metalcharts.org, fetched directly. The January 2026 all-time intraday high ($5,405 on Jan. 29), the June 25, 2026 price ($4,001.80), the “down roughly 7%” year-to-date characterization as of late June, and the second-half 2026 forecast of plus or minus 5% around $4,100 are drawn directly from the World Gold Council’s Gold Mid-Year Outlook 2026, fetched directly. The Sept. 22, 2026 spot price ($4,330, as of 12:44 p.m. EDT) is drawn directly from Kitco’s live gold chart, fetched directly; this publication independently calculated the less-than-0.2% change against metalcharts.org’s cited 2025 close. Nevada’s Sept. 21, 2026 diesel figures (statewide average $6.82, Reno $7.01, Las Vegas $6.81, and the year-ago figure of $3.97) are drawn from AAA data as aggregated and fetched directly from Gasolytics; the 71.9% year-over-year increase was independently calculated from those two figures. The Sept. 18, 2026 diesel figure ($6.71, a reported 69% year-over-year increase) and the Luis Mercado and Robert Eisenstadt quotes are drawn directly from Fox5 Vegas’s Sept. 18, 2026 report, fetched directly; only the Mercado quote was used in the article body. The January 2026 national average diesel price ($3.52, down 3.1% from January 2025) is drawn directly from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ Motor Fuel Prices report, fetched directly. The CALNEV pipeline’s approximately 90% share of Las Vegas refined fuel and California’s roughly $8.04 average diesel price are drawn from Hoodline’s Sept. 16, 2026 report, fetched directly. The RTC-5 fuel tax figures (58 cents a gallon effective July 1, 2026, a 4.27-cent increase from the prior year, and $558 million in funded roadway improvements) are drawn directly from the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County’s own RTC-5 information page, fetched directly; this article did not confirm whether RTC-5 applies specifically to diesel, gasoline, or both, since the source used the terms interchangeably, and phrased the reference accordingly without claiming diesel-specific applicability. Searched specifically for existing coverage connecting Nevada’s 2025-26 mining tax data to the state’s 2026 gold price trend or its record diesel prices; found extensive separate coverage of each subject, including national industry commentary on mining margin compression from diesel costs, but no Nevada-specific article using the state’s own net proceeds mechanism to connect gold’s flat year-over-year price to diesel’s 72% increase. Checked the full article text programmatically for em dashes (U+2014) and en dashes (U+2013); none found.
