Amador County – The Board members of Sutter Gold Mining helped mark the dedication of a cornerstone on their Lincoln Mine project near Sutter Creek on Friday, May 11 marking a 20-year effort to get the project open, and resuming hard rock gold mining in the Mother Lode for the first time in half a century.

Board members and officials of Sutter Gold Mining said they waited patiently for the opening and became major shareholders of the company a few years ago, when their predecessor sold shares in the company. President and CEO Doctor Leanne Baker said the passion of the team on this project and future projects shows in their integrity, respect, teamwork, accountability and excellence. She said the project is expected to be self-sustaining and work in Sutter Creek for a long time. 

Geologist Stephen Zahony said the Lincoln Mine will be the first underground, hard rock gold mining operation in the Mother Lode in 50 years. He said local families and land trusts kept the project alive by preserving the land and mineral rights.

David Cochrane, vice president of environmental health and safety said he has worked on 40 permits with over 20 agencies for the project, and he acknowledged help from many at the county level, including Planning Department Director Susan Grijalva, who has worked 20 years on the project. Grijalva attended the ceremony.

Sutter Gold Mining’s board of directors member Mark T. Brown from Vancouver, chairman of the company, was responsible for taking the project public. It now sells over-the-counter stocks. He said the project is made up of geologists, engineers, miners and investment bankers.

Rick Winters, president of RMB Resources, and member of Sutter Gold Mining’s board of directors, said RMB Resources Incorporated is a wholly owned unit of Rand Merchant Bank, a division of FirstRand Bank. Winters said RMB is a small group of miners-come-bankers, with offices in Sydney Australia, South Africa and Colorado. He said: “We sit here in California,” while their major shareholder is South African with a Colorado address. Winters said “there is indeed gold in them thar hills.”

The ceremony included a narrated physical display of “triple jack mining” from the 1800s by a group of the miners, using hammers, chisels, and fake dynamite. A “jack” or miner would hold a chisel, while the other miners would strike it with a hammer to put holes in the rock for blasting.

The man holding the chisel, and taking a few hits on his hand from the hammers, was mine manager Jim Smith, a fourth generation hard rock underground miner from Colorado.

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