Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Yuba River Charter School has bought an 8.5 acre parcel near Grass Valley for its long-sought new campus, I have learned.

It is the first commercial land closing in the market since the fourth quarter of 2009, according to Lock Richards, managing director of Sperry Van Ness, who closed the deal.

The property at 11157 Rough & Ready Hwy. had been owned by AnimalSave.

The Waldorf-inspired pre-K to eighth grade school serves families in the Sierra Foothills.

Yuba River Charter School has just relocated to the former site of Nevada City Elementary, which closed because of declining enrollment. It is leasing the space.

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Editor’s note: Emgold is proposing to reopen the Idaho-Maryland Mine in Grass Valley, as Sutter Mining Co., also a Canadian junior mining stock, is proposing to reopen a gold mine in Amador County.

“A group of investors is betting millions the gold rush isn’t over in the Sierra Foothills. They’re spending more than $20 million to get a mine in Amador County back up and running,” according to Channel 13 in Sacramento.

“The mine goes about 650 feet underground and it’s about to get a whole lot deeper.

“They’ve done the research, and Sutter Gold Mining Inc. says there’s a lot of gold in the rocks. The light-colored quartz will guide miners to veins of gold and the potential for a billion dollars.

‘“We’ll be mining about a third to half ounce of gold per ton,’ said company spokesman David Cochrane.

“The untapped, underground territory is about to get blasted.

“’The miners will drill holes, set charges and blast it down,’ said Cochrane.

The rest of the article is here.

A local newspapere article is here.

Corporate background is here:

“Sutter Gold Mining Inc. (“SGMI” or “the Company”), is incorporated in the province of British Columbia, Canada, and trades on the Toronto Venture Stock Exchange under the symbol TSX-V:SGM. Its principal business activity is the evaluation and development of the Lincoln-Comet zone of the Lincoln Project located in the heart of the California Mother Lode Gold Belt in Amador County, California.

SGMI’s corporate office is located in Lakewood, Colorado and has operations in Sutter Creek, California functioning under the name of Sutter Gold Mining Company (SGMC). SGMC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SGMI which was established to conduct mining operations at the Lincoln Project. The Sutter Creek location is also the site of the underground mine tour offered at the Sutter Gold Mine.

The Company currently controls over three miles of the Mother Lode, with 90% of the property still unexplored.

In Mexico, Sutter Gold holds the rights to the geologically similar, high-grade El Alamo district of northern Baja, where historic mining to the water table produced mined grades of 30 to 60 g/t gold. Initial exploration with its joint-venture partner, Premier Gold, has demonstrated the extension of high-grade veins.

SGMI’s major shareholder is Rand Merchant Bank Resources (RMB), a wholly owned unit of the Rand Merchant Bank division of FirstRand Bank and a Trustee of the Telluride Investment Trust. Currently, RMB holds 49.9% of SGMI’s common shares.

The website is here.

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“There’s reason to view these results with some skepticism, since Rick Perry isn’t a declared candidate and the NBC/WSJ and ABC/Washington Post polls this week showed a different picture, but this will certainly help intensify the drumbeat for the Texas governor,” according to Politico. “Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney still leads the race for the Republican nomination — but just barely, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday.

“Romney’s support among GOP primary voters has dropped 6 percentage points in recent weeks, from 23 percent in early June to 17 percent in the new poll … Close behind Romney is undeclared candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry at 14 percent. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann comes in at 10 percent.

“And from CNN:

“A CNN/ORC International Poll released Friday indicates that 14 percent of Republicans and independents who lean towards the GOP pick Perry as their first choice for their party’s nomination, just two points behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney …

“The survey indicates that Perry’s biggest supporters are men: He wins 20 percent among Republican men, compared to only eight percent among GOP women. Perry also has a lot of strength among tea party supporters. He is in first place, with 22 percent, among Republicans who say they support the tea party. Among non-tea partiers, Romney is in first place, with 22 percent, and Perry drops to five percent.”

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“Strong rural communities are key to a stronger America,” said President Barack Obama in announcing the White House Rural Council this summer. “That’s why I’ve established the White House Rural Council to make sure we’re working across government to strengthen rural communities and promote economic growth.”

The White House Rural Council will coordinate programs across government to encourage public-private partnerships to promote further economic prosperity and quality of life in rural communities nationwide, according to the White House. Chaired by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, the Council will be responsible for providing recommendations for investment in rural areas and will coordinate Federal engagement with a variety of rural stakeholders, including agricultural organizations, small businesses, and state, local, and tribal governments.

But here’s what CABPRO thinks in a new post:

“Rural communities are generally small towns with close community ties formed to create relative safety, where everyone knows each other and we help one another. How can BIG Government possibly help us? BIG Government would just screw up a good thing. What is the purpose of the White House Rural Council?…to turn rural communities into ghettos like they have done to the urban metropolitan big cities?

“This new USDA BIG boondoggle comes on the heels of several other like-minded and costly Obama initiatives. In the last few months the USDA has doled out tens of millions of dollars to bring healthy foods to the inner city, recruit more food-stamp recipients and track what minority public school children eat for lunch.

“Just a few days before Obama’s executive order the USDA dropped $10 million on a Farmers Market Promotion Program (http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/FMPP) that is to bring fresh and healthy cuisine to low-income neighborhoods (“food deserts”) throughout the USA. Last month the USDA launched a sophisticated internet-based mapping tool “Food Desert Locator” that identifies areas with “limited access to affordable and nutritious foods.”

According to the Obama administration, the program will focus on:

•Jobs: Improve job training and workforce development in rural America
•Agriculture: Expand markets for agriculture, including regional food systems and exports
•Access to Credit: Increase opportunity by expanding access to capital in rural communities and fostering local investment
•Innovation: Promote the expansion of biofuels production capacity and community based renewable energy projects
•Networks: Develop high-growth regional economies by capitalizing on inherent regional strengths
•Health Care: Improve access to quality health care through expansion of health technology systems
•Education: Increase post-secondary enrollment rates and completion for rural students
•Broadband: Support the President’s plan to increase broadband opportunities in rural America
•Infrastructure: Coordinate investment in critical infrastructure
•Ecosystem markets: Expanding opportunities for conservation, outdoor opportunities and economic growth on working lands and public lands

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