GSN Winnemucca Chapter Meeting – Thursday, March 12, 2026

Abstract: As markets chase critical minerals and policymakers reshape the land-use landscape, geology remains the bedrock of responsible exploration. This talk examines how geological insight—through resource definition, structural interpretation, and deposit modeling—guides not just discovery, but the evolving standards of ESG, permitting, and investor expectations. Public lands, increasingly contested, demand vigilant stewardship. Exploration geologists stand at the frontier, protecting access through continual prospecting and detailed understanding of mineral systems. Only by embracing this role can we maintain multiple-use integrity, find balance between preservation and progress, and fulfill our deeper purpose: advancing civilization through the ethical development of Earth’s resources.

Speaker Bio: Mark Travis, CPG, is a Nevada-based exploration geologist and founder of Arkenstone Exploration. Working in an independent Qualified Person capacity, he focuses on structural interpretation, deposit modeling, and strategic technical assessment across Nevada and the broader western U.S. Mark’s work in Nevada has spanned Carlin-type and structurally complex gold-silver systems, with time at Cortez and Jerritt Canyon, as well as lithium clay exploration at Rhyolite Ridge. His current efforts emphasize the intersection of geology, land access, and permitting—particularly within Basin and Range structural frameworks where discovery depends as much on understanding fault architecture and fluid pathways as on geochemistry alone. He has also worked in Wyoming’s uranium basins during both the previous cycle with Strathmore Minerals and

more recently on the Kaycee Project, contributing to basin-margin targeting and sandstone-hosted uranium system evaluation. That experience continues to inform his perspective on how geological models evolve through cycles of capital, policy, and energy demand. Mark serves as Vice President of the Nevada Mineral Exploration Coalition and as a Director of the Geological Society of Nevada. His professional thesis positions geology not simply as a discovery tool, but as decision infrastructure—guiding capital allocation, land strategy, permitting pathways, and responsible resource development in an increasingly complex regulatory and public-land environment.