For Local Government purposes it is in the "Alston Moor Ward" of Eden District Council and the "Alston and East Fellside Ward" of Cumbria County Council. Nenthead does not have its own parish council, instead it is part of Alston Moor Parish Council. In 2013 the Canadian mining company Minco sank deep boreholes in an effort to discover the extent of zinc deposits beneath Nenthead. Although test drilling could go on for several years, the company believes that the village may be sited on huge deposits of the chemical element. The zinc is below the surface and was previously too deep to reach by old mining techniques. Owing to its northerly latitude of 55° N and altitude of 437 m AMSL, Nenthead yields one of the coldest, and likewise snowiest climates in England; yielding a borderline subpolar oceanic climate ("Cfc") and cool oceanic climate ("Cfb"). The average annual temperature in Nenthead is 6.5 °C; 1,095 mm of precipitation falls annually; chiefly in winter as heavy snowfall, and in autumn.