Tom Kitchar: a brief history of a "long time miner"

Tom worked at the Homestake mine in South Dakota back in the late 70's/early 80's.The Homestake Mine was a deep underground gold mine (8,000 feet) located in Lead, South Dakota. Until it closed in 2002 it was the largest and deepest gold mine in North America. The mine produced more than forty million troy ounces (43,900,000 oz; 1,240,000 kg) of gold during its lifetime. In his spare time, Tom learned to prospect for gold and in1980 he began dredging. He never stopped. He is president of the Waldo Mining District in Oregon and a respected authority on mining law.