Workers for Sutter Gold Mining Co. are looking forward to the day when they extract gold from the Mother Lode's vein rather than simply give guided tours of it. Photo by: Scott Thomas Anderson

After years of preparation, a local company feels it will soon tap what the ghosts of past mining generations left behind: namely, a glittering golden jackpot.

The Sutter Gold Mining Co. has its sights on becoming California's only fully functional underground gold producer by 2011. While the mine's officials know the public is bound to have concerns over everything from trucking routes to noise levels, visual aesthetics and environmental safety, they say they've had time to come up with solutions to most of those fears. They also believe that sending the Gold Country back to its historic roots will have a positive impact on Amador's economic recovery.

Currently, Sutter Gold Mining Co. is the only organization in the entire state that's cleared to have large-scale gold mining operations underground. For more than a decade, the mining startup has been slowly fighting its way into compliance with California's tough environmental laws. Having finished its Environmental Impact Report and been granted a number of its major permits, Sutter Gold Mining Co. is looking to tie up the remaining loose ends that could stand in the way of having a good relationship with the surrounding community.

To some extent, Stacy Rhoades, manager of the company, knows what locals might envision when they hear the term industrial gold mining. Images of the Argonaut and Kennedy Mines in the 1940s - the non-stop, booming clanks from their stamp mills and massive dynamite explosions - are bound to raise alarming scenarios. Rhoades said the Sutter Gold Mine is a different operation for a different era.

"In terms of noise problems, we are limited to a 5-decibel increase at our property line," he pointed out. "We're going to use new technology to make the mill isolated, so it's totally sound proof. It won't even be as loud as the ventilation system we're running right now. The only issue I'm still working out has to do with the fact that the OSHA requires us to have backing-up alarms on all trucks and forklifts, which would be annoying to the workers and the residents. But there are certain safety systems and alternatives to get around it. Ultimately, I don't think we'll have to have those."

Rhoades added the ammonium nitrate blasts the company has been using in the mines for years can't be felt and are almost never heard by residents.

Any fears that the new mill's structure along Highway 49 between Amador City and Sutter Creek might ruin the area's Gold Rush charm will likely be put to rest by architectural guidelines the company has to follow. "We're required to make it look like a turn-of-the-century building," said Holly Boitano, the mine's environmental protection and safety coordinator. "It'll be something that fits in with what locals and tourists expect the area to look like."

Boitano, who has worked for more than four years with state and federal officials to ensure the gold mine will be safe for the environment, thinks it's important for Amador residents to know she and her co-workers have a vested interested in that department. "We're from here - we all grew up here," she said. "We're the last ones who would ever want to pollute the area."

If the history of the Sutter Creek Bypass is any indicator, then Amador City and Sutter Creek residents will likely have concerns over the number of trucks deployed from the mine. The three by-products of extracting gold from quartz embedded in greenstone are tailings, which in this case will be a clean, clay powder; construction rock, which will be large, gravel-like greenstone pieces; and ore concentrate. The construction rock will find its way to quarries for sale or resale, while the ore concentrate will be sent to Nevada to be burned for energy production. In the short term, Sutter Gold Mining Co. will look to incorporate the tailings back into the landscape of the nearby Swift property, with a long-term goal of turning them into floor and kitchen tiles for homes.

Rhoades said he does not anticipate more than a truck or two on the roads a day but cautioned those details were still being explored. "Whatever happens with the truck situation, we'll be in close contact with the city councils in Amador City and Sutter Creek to make sure everyone's in agreement on what's acceptable," he said

The big news Sutter Gold Mining Co. wants to convey to the public is that they are currently planning on starting with 100 to 130 jobs amounting to an $8 million payroll annually. Rhoades is also looking to use local contractors and trucking companies for the mine's additional needs. "I get upset when I see out-of-town contractors and companies coming here and taking work from people we all know down the street," he said. "We have plenty of good companies here in Amador County that employ local people and spend their dollars here with local businesses. I can promise this mine will do everything it can to keep the money it produces in Amador County."