SUTTER GOLD MINING INC. T S X - V X :   S G M Suite 410 - 325 Howe St., Vancouver, BC Canada V6C 1Z7 • Tel: 604-687-3520 • Fax: 604-688-3392 17 March 2005   NR05-03 Sutter Gold hires consulting geologist Vancouver B.C., Sutter Gold Mining Inc. (TSX-VX: SGM) announces the hiring of Mr. Mark Payne, consulting geologist, to coordinate exploration work at the Company's gold project.     Scope of Work Mark Payne, leading exploration geologist based in Grass Valley, CA, has been hired by the Company to oversee the geological aspects of an ongoing underground exploration and development program. Mr. Payne is a licensed professional geologist in the State of California and has 27 years of mineral exploration experience in the western United States, and extensive experience exploring complex vein deposits. Recently, he completed 11 years of service as Chief Geologist at a large gold-quartz vein project in California, having calculated resources in 90 separate zones. Mr. Payne is designated as a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.   The scope of Mr Payne’s work will include reviewing core hole data, geologic mapping of the Intermediate Drift and raises in the area of proposed development, the identification of additional step-out core drill locations, and developing a comprehensive mine sampling and QA/QC program for the project. The work done on resource estimation in 1993 is not in accordance with current 43-101 reporting standards. In addition, a pre-feasibility study from 1993 is no longer current as the economic assumptions used in it are more than 10 years out of date. Mr. Payne is well versed in resource/reserve validation for gold-quartz vein deposits and will work towards updating that Historical Resource in compliance with the current NI 43-101 guidelines.   Mr. Hal Herron, Sutter's CEO said , "The Company is fortunate to have Mark Payne on the project as he has a comprehensive knowledge of exploration and development methodologies applicable to gold deposits in the Mother Lode Belt. While management believes the resource estimates from 1993 to be reasonable, it is our goal   to quickly be in the position to have a resource we can talk about in accordance with 43-101 standards.”  Mr Payne will also coordinate mine development with the mining engineers with a goal to updating the 1993 pre- feasibility study to current standards.”   About Sutter Gold Mine    The Sutter Gold project is situated on a contiguous 535-acre block of mining claims 45 miles east-southeast of Sacramento, Calif., in the central part of the 121-mile-long Mother Lode gold belt. The Sutter Gold property itself has had recorded production of 1,324,000 ounces of gold, essentially all of this prior to 1920, and this recovery was from the Wildman, Mahoney, Lincoln, South Spring Hill, Keystone and Medean Mines.   The Sutter Gold project has been the subject of considerable modern exploration activity, most of it centering on the Lincoln and Comet zones, which are adjacent to each other and together referred to as the Lincoln project. A total  of  85,085  feet  of  drilling  have  been  accomplished  in  190  diamond  drill  holes,  and  modern  underground development consists of a 2,850-foot declined ramp with 2,400 feet of crosscuts plus four raises. Mr. Payne is designated as the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed this release.   For additional information, please contact: Mr. John Kuehne, SmallCap Corporate Partners by telephone at 250-216-7299 or via email at john@smallcap.ca. Hal Herron, CEO, 307-856-9271 or via e-mail at hal@usnrg.com. The TSX Venture Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.