A family gold operation wants four more seasons on Cache Creek, mined since the early 1900s

A small placer gold operation wants to work Cache Creek near Petersville for four more mining seasons, on ground where family outfits have dug for gold since the early 1900s. The state is weighing the application, and the public has until Aug. 31 to comment.

The operators, working as Cash Mining, propose a modest job: a crew of three on a single 20-acre claim, running roughly June through mid-October each year with a dozer, excavators, rock trucks, loaders and a washplant. If approved, the authorization would run through the end of 2030.

The Cache Creek and Peters Creek drainages have produced placer gold since the early 1900s, and one-man and family outfits still work them, DNR noticed another Cache Creek placer application just last year.

What the state is actually deciding is narrower than the mine itself: whether to approve the operators' plan for how the ground will be worked and restored, on state land. The agency can attach conditions, so a comment may shape how the mine operates rather than whether it goes forward. Any other permits the operation needs are separate decisions.