Amador County – A group of mining investment bankers with a major partner from South Africa, via Colorado, the board of directors of Sutter Gold Mining Incorporated held a dedication ceremony Friday for a cornerstone of the Lincoln Gold Mine project, which they hope produces gold by the end of the year.

Stephen Zahoney, vice president of exploration and geology said he hoped the publicly traded company has “as many stakeholders as we have ounces of gold in the ground.” An assessment said between 200,000 and 700,000 ounces could be in the rock of the 3.6 miles of the Mother Lode vein that Sutter Gold controls.

About 120 people attended the cornerstone pouring and dedication on the old entry road to the former Sutter Gold Mine. Board members shoveled concrete into a frame that will be a slab to hold a monument to the mine, and its history.

Supervisor Brian Oneto, in whose District 5 the mine sits, said the project will change a common emphasis on service based economics to a bigger one in the county of raw materials. He said without raw materials, you don’t have computers, which he said contain gold. And “if you want to stay happily married, there’s gold and diamonds out there.”

Oneto said something lacking in Amador is good jobs. His family worked to serve the mines, but not at the mines. He has a picture of his grandfather driving logs to either Argonaut or the Kennedy mine. He said the guys that set this up and get dirty make it work.

Robert Ehlert, senior field representative for Congressman Dan Lungren (R-Gold River), said he saw a lot of pictures being taken, and it was an historic day. He said a lasting image would show the 110 chairs there, because this mine creates 110 jobs. That was important with 12-15 percent unemployment rates across the country.

Sutter Gold Mining President and CEO, Doctor Leanne Baker said she’s only been with the project 6 months but saw the historic significance of the area. Sutter Creek is named after John Sutter, and historic monuments abound on Highway 49. She also pointed out a 150-year-old olive tree across the road, and remnants of a nearby old town and an old winery.

Baker said a monument will be built on the cornerstone they would pour Friday, and “we’ll be doing a lot of celebrating, we hope, in the months to come.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.