A nearly $1 billion expansion to add a milling facility at its flagship Hycroft mine could make Reno’s Allied Nevada Gold Corp. one of the largest silver producers in the world.

Barrick Gold Corporation’s two new gold discoveries in Nevada represent the biggest mining story in the state for 2011, says Alan Coyner, administrator for the Nevada Division of Minerals. In September, Barrick said it had found estimated resources of nearly 3.5 million ounces of gold at its Red Hill and Goldrush claims a few miles southeast of the company’s flagship Cortez mining operations 75 miles southwest of Elko.