Spokane-based Goldrich Mining Co. says it expects to start drilling later this month in the Chandalar gold district of Alaska.

Goldrich recently raised about $2 million in a private placement of its common stock, and will use those proceeds to finance this year's hard-rock drilling gold exploration program at Chandalar and also for general operating expenses, says Bill Schara, president and CEO of Goldrich.

Its private placement that closed May 31 included the selling of investment units consisting of stock and warrants, which offer the right to buy additional shares at a later date and at a set price.

Alaska's Chandalar gold district is located on about 17,000 acres, of which 437 acres are patented by Goldrich for mining claims. Those claims are on state property, located about 190 miles north of Fairbanks.

Goldrich (OTCBB: GRMC) is a publicly-traded, exploration-stage company that formerly was known as Little Squaw Gold Mining Co. and has been in business since the late 1950s. Schara became CEO in October 2009.

"Our hope is to discover a major gold deposit," Schara says. "Our main target is our hard-rock exploration. To develop those targets, you explore them first."

The company says that the Chandalar gold district is where gold was first discovered in the region in 1905.

Goldrich says it has found evidence of a gold-producing site about five miles long by about 1,800 feet wide that may have the potential for a large, bulk-tonnage gold deposit.

Goldrich completed a test mine at Chandalar in 2009 and began its first step in commercial production there in 2010, producing about 1,500 ounces of gold.

"We had gross revenue of $1.9 million," Schara says. However, for year-end 2010, the company posted a net loss of $2.4 million, which he attributed to operating and mining start-up costs.