Summit looks to increase share of mining business

The move by Summit Engineering of Reno to acquire Frontier Surveying Inc.

of Elko marks a major step by Summit to build its presence in the mining industry.

Summit, which has ranked among the 400 largest engineering and design firms in the nation, didn't disclose terms of its acquisition of Frontier Surveying.

The deal was announced last week.

But Thomas Gallagher, chief executive officer of Summit, left little doubt that the company is poised to make a major push into minerelated work.

"We have been growing and expanding the civil engineering aspect of our business and have long considered expanding deeper into the mining industry.

This acquisition is a clear sign that we are now fully engaged and prepared to serve the industry for all its needs," Gallagher said in a prepared statement.

With the acquisition, Gallagher said the combined companies are prepared to provide one-stop shopping for the mining industry.He said Summit believes no other company in the state can provide the same range of services.

Frontier Survey provides surveying and mapping service to mining companies throughout the West.

Founded in 1993 by Bill Mueller, the company's expertise includes surveying for lode, placer and mill-site claims.

It also works on land boundaries,water rights, construction and GPS control surveys for the mining industry.

Mueller has worked as a surveyor for mining interests since 1973.

Summit,meanwhile, is best known in the Truckee Meadows for its work in engineering large-scale land development projects.

The company handled the engineering for nearly all the land developed between McCarran Boulevard and Verdi in northwest Reno, for instance, and also handled the engineering of Double Diamond Ranch in South Meadows.

But Summit Engineering isn't a newcomer to work in the mining industry, and much of that work has been centered at a branch office it's operated in Elko for more than two decades.

At the Barrick Goldstrike Mine in Eureka County, for instance, Summit handled geotechnical services during development.

And it handled the civil engineering of a 14-mile access road to the Mule Canyon Mine in Lander County.

Not far from its corporate office in northwest Reno, Summit directed the mining of more than a million cubic yards of structural fill used at the Somersett development.

Summit's roots in Elko Gallagher was raised there, the son of a dentist and prominent community volunteer played a role in the negotiations to acquire Frontier Surveying.

Mueller noted that the Gallagher family's roots in northern Nevada extend back five generations.

"Summit is a great company with a long history in the state," he said.

The company was founded in 1978 by a group that included Gallagher and Don McHarg,who still serves as its executive vice president.

In fact,McHarg said last week he's known Mueller throughout his professional life.

Along with Reno and Elko, Summit Engineering has offices at Las Vegas and Ely.