Lahontan Gold tables Nevada mine development update
Lahontan Gold Corp. [LG-TSXV, LGCXF-OTCQB, Y2F-FSE] has released an update on mine development and exploration activities at its flagship Santa Fe Mine project in the Walker Lane area of Nevada.
The company said the preparation of an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) for Santa Fe is nearly complete, a crucial step in developing an open pit mine plan for the restart of gold and silver production from the project. With an updated MRE, the company will also complete a revised preliminary economic assessment (PEA), which is expected to include a detailed description of key mine infrastructure, including heap leach pads, open pits and locations for waste rock storage. With a PEA in hand, the company said it will be able to submit a mine plan of operations to the Federal Bureau of Land Management.
Lahontan shares were unchanged at 34 cents on Tuesday and trade in a 52-week range of 52 cents and $0.095.
Lahontan is a Canadian mine development and mineral exploration company that holds, through its U.S. subsidiaries, four gold and silver exploration properties in the Walker Lane area of Nevada. The flagship, 28.3-square kilometre Santa Fe Mine project, had past production of 359,202 ounces of gold and 702,067 ounces of silver between 1988 and 1995 from open pit mines utilizing heap-leach processing.
The Santa Fe Mine has a National Instrument 43-101-compliant indicated resource of 1.54 million ounces of gold equivalent (AuEq) (48.4 million tonnes of grade 0.92 g/t gold and 7.18 g/t silver, together grading 0.99 g/t AuEq) and an inferred resource of 411,000 ounces of AuEq (16.7 million tonnes of grade 0.74 g/t gold and 3.25 g/t silver, together grading 0.76 g/t AuEq), all pit constrained.
“The pace of activity at Santa Fe continues to accelerate: We are advancing permitting activities, making new gold and silver discoveries, while evaluating the economic potential of reprocessing the historic heap leach pads, potentially producing very significant and low-cost recoverable ounces,’’ said Lahontan Gold Chair and CEO, Kimberly Ann. “Lahontan has completed 87 drill holes totaling 7,751 metres so far in 2026 with more to come,’’ she said. “We remain on track to break ground in 2027.’’
Ann said the Santa Fe mine is a classic brownfields restart, leveraging existing infrastructure and technical knowledge allowing the company to restart production at lower capital cost, on a shorter development timeline, and with a substantially lower execution risk than a comparable greenfield project.
Despite delays caused by a lack of qualified technical consultants in the region, the company said it expects the PEA to be completed by the end of August. Meanwhile, the company has announced results for five drill holes, including the discovery of a new, previously unrecognized zone of mineralization west of the Slab resource (Slab West).
Key intersections include 35 metres of grade 0.34 g/t gold equivalent (AuEq) and 61 metres of grade 0.26 g/t AuEq.