SeeCalifornia.com

By C. MacDonald

Sutter Creek, CA–The first large hard rock gold mining operation in half a century is underway 45 miles southeast of Sacramento in this town, located in the heart of the wine country. Sutter Gold Mining Inc. recently had a “Gold Pour” (showed off its gold) at its Lincoln Mine Project in what was once the most productive gold mining district in the famous Mother Lode.

“We still have much to do to achieve commercial production,” said Dr. Leanne Baker, president of Sutter Gold Mining. “The underground development is proceeding to provide the necessary ventilation and secondary access for the production that will follow.”

Miners have reportedly dug more than half a mile underground and set up a network of tunnels necessary to reach the quartz that may contain gold. “Probe drilling has confirmed that the 1,200-level decline is targeted properly,” Baker said.

The Vancouver-based company controls more than 4.6 miles of property between Sutter Creek and Amador City, near California’s legendary “Golden” Highway 49. About 90% of this property has not been explored, officials said. The company’s 110 employees expect to remove 150 tons of ore a day from the site north of the old Lincoln Mine, producing nearly 2,000 ounces of gold a month.

Sutter Mining has spent years getting the necessary environmental permits to begin mining again. Forty-niners often were lucky to earn one ounce of gold (worth $16) after a full days mining. But with the price of gold sometimes fluctuating between $1,600-$1,700 an ounce in recent years, there’s a renewed interest in the potential billions of dollars worth of gold still locked in the Sierra.

Some other companies are attempting to re-open mines or mine in the Sierra, one of the most recent near Gold Hill over on the Comstock Lode.

Sutter Creek, a cute town of 2,500, is named for its creek, which is named for John Sutter, on whose property gold was discovered in Coloma in January, 1848. Sutter also sought gold in this creek. Famous California Governor Leland Stanford also once had a residence and owned a mine in Sutter Creek, which is appropriately known as “The Jewel of the Mother Lode.”