Sutter Gold Mining Inc. (TSX:SGM)' Our 2012 drilling program is off to a strong start,” said Leanne Baker, president of Sutter Gold.
“Our exploration team is focusing on near-surface extensions of gold-bearing zone and the underexplored region between the Comet and Lincoln segments of the gold resource.
Results from the first three holes suggest initial success on both fronts.”
These three test bores are the first in what will be a program of 17 bores this year.
The assay results from those bores showed all of the segments of rock had some gold, but many of them were far below the estimated average of 0.46 ounces per ton.
In some 55 feet of bore holes, the amount of gold per ton ranged from 0.009 ounces gold per ton to 0.46 ounces per ton. Then there was the nearly 2-foot section that had 4.317 ounces of gold per ton and another 2-foot section with 1.8 ounces of gold per ton.
The gold in California’s mines didn’t run out. The economics of gold mining collapsed when the price of gold was set at $35 per ounce by the government during the Great Depression.
Then during World War II, the government limited the use of steel and explosives. Nearly all California mines closed down. And as the price of gold has risen steadily for decades, mining companies have avoided California because it has more environmental controls than other states.
Sutter Gold Mine is a modern mine, originally bored to more than a mile in 1989 with a gradual downward slope.
The tunnel — called a decline — is 20 feet high and large enough to accommodate school buses passing each other.
Mark Anderson covers banking, finance, accounting, technology, telecom, venture capital, hospitality, tourism and restaurants for the Sacramento Business Journal.