Sales and use tax collections for mining increased in White Pine County 57.8 percent in August, machinery manufacturing grew more than 1,000 percent and nonmetallic mineral product production increased 71.6 percent, as well.

But except that people continue to need to eat, there's not a lot of other good news in the Nevada Department of Taxation Combined Sales & Use Tax report of August 2009.

Food and beverage store sales grew 178.7 percent from $253,261 in August 2008 to $705,757 in August 2009.

And mining sales, exclusive of oil and gas, reached $1,106,488 during the month - much better than the $701,486 reported as sales in August 2008.

Machinery manufacturing sales were listed as $774,614 this year, compared to just $63,149 in sales in August of last year.

And the nonmetallic mineral sales of $588,499 in August also was better than the $342,906 reported in August 2008.

But durable good sales in the county plummeted 42.9 percent to $2,693,716 adding to the monthly loss 14.2 percent for all sectors, as total sales dropped from $17,373,129 in August 2008 to $14,903,799 in August 2009.

Telecommunication sales were hit with a 95.8-percent loss from $336,099 in sales in August 2008 to just $13,964 in sales in August 2009.

Car dealers saw their troubled sales slip just 6.8 percent over the month to total $1,041,968.

And the eating and drinking establishments saw their sales collapse 20.9 percent to $1,033,499 as the tourist season dwindled into fall.