Amador County – Sutter Gold Mining Incorporated, owners of 3.6 miles of historic Mother Lode gold-producing veins in Amador County, including the former Sutter Gold Mine, announced last week that it has secured $20 million in financing in Canada, and will start construction to ready the mine for eventual full production.
The construction will effectively end the underground tourism of the mine, in exchange for an anticipated payoff of as many as 223,000 ounces of gold estimated to be in the Sutter.
Sutter Gold Mining Chief Financial Officer Robert Hutmacher announced the financing approval Thursday (July 14), saying Sutter Gold closed a $20 million “prepaid gold project finance facility” in Vancouver, British Columbia and “has closed on an agreement with RMB Australia Holdings wherein” Australia Holdings “will provide a secured prepaid gold facility to Sutter in the amount of $20 million.”
Hutmacher said the “final delivery price” is $941 per ounce with 53,000 ounces of gold committed in a “mine plan” and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Lincoln Project, the former Sutter Gold Mine.
“Sutter has made its first draw under the Facility, repaying its existing debt and funding the first month of the 12-month development schedule for the Lincoln Project,” Hutmacher said.
David Cochrane, vice president for environment, health and safety for Sutter Gold Mining, said in early July that the first steps to prepare for production include removal of the exterior building and construction of a new one. Underground construction will be done as well.
He said blasting would be contained to underground work, with surface excavation done by machinery. He said the blasts would have blast doors installed, and charges would be set to minimize impact, to try to remove only rock containing gold, which is economically most feasible for the company.
Grinders will reduce the size of rock under ground, and small mills, (not stamp mills) will reduce the rock further. He said the mine will use gravity sorting to remove gold at the mine site, but will send the fine material to another site for further, chemical extraction. He said mines typically have problems with acidic runoff, but the high carbon content of the mine will neutralize the acidity.
The project could create as many as 150 jobs in the next couple of years. Cochrane said the Lincoln Project has been a great job for him, allowing him to do work in his own back yard. The El Dorado County resident considers it a local project. He said the mine also hired another former local resident, from the aggregate industry, to work another dream job.
Cochrane said locally at least one family, the Boitanos, with five generations in mining, and a history in founding Amador County, will be working at the mine, including former TSPN news anchor, Holly Boitano.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
