[daniel-cussen]

The claim that Nevada is the world's fourth largest gold producer is accurate. It goes China, South Africa, Australia, Nevada, as states go.

It is also the world's low cost gold producer, at an average of $260 an ounce.

The part about mining being pain because of regulations is also as accurate as a subjective claim can be. My father works with Phelps Dodge, and they recently opened the first copper mine to be opened in the States in 20-odd years. I'd have to ask him for the details. Comparatively speaking, in Chile the pollution due to mining isn't awful, especially considering a lot of it occurs in places where it only rains every 400 years. It is not really corrupt, at least not much more so than the States, and there are straightforward laws that govern how you deal with the environment. If you want to dispose of mercury, for example, you have to solidify it with special salts before you bury it in a predetermined way. You don't have to destroy the environment.

Having said that, I doubt the US would be incredibly richer by exploiting these natural resources. But I believe it would be substantially richer; opening this up would increase the GDP by an extra 5% for maybe 5 years in a row. That order of magnitude.