Announcement • Jun 30
Lahontan Provides Santa Fe Mine Development and Exploration Update
Lahontan Gold Corp. provided an update on mine development and exploration activities at its flagship Santa Fe Mine Project located in mining friendly Nevada’s Walker Lane. The mine permitting team continues to make timely progress on the waste rock geochemical characterization program and ground water modeling, part of the Nevada state mine permitting process. 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 at the project. With an updated MRE, the Company will also complete a revised Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”), which will include detailed description of key mine infrastructure including heap leach pads, open pits, and locations for waste rock storage. With the PEA in hand, the Company will be able to submit a Mine Plan of Operations (“MPOO”) to the Federal Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”). Despite the fluid nature of Federal and State mine permitting, Lahontan remains on track for breaking ground at the Santa Fe Mine Project in 2027. MRE and PEA Preparation: Lahontan and its engineering consultants continue to work on an updated MRE for the Santa Fe Mine Project. High levels of mining and exploration activity throughout Nevada have also increased demand for qualified technical consultants, resulting in modest delays in completing the updated MRE. The Company has taken advantage of the delays, our geologic team has been fine-tuning and improving the accuracy of the grade, metallurgical, and geologic domain models used in the MRE process. We have also been able to incorporate the recently announced drill results from the Calvada area into the resource estimation. We expect final MRE numbers in the coming weeks. As noted above, the MRE is vital to the mine permitting process, as it forms the basis for the PEA, which will develop preliminary site plans, crushing capacity, heap leach pad designs, etc. for the resumption of gold and silver mining at Santa Fe. Despite the delays in the MRE, our engineering consultants are ready to complete the PEA process as quickly as possible, and Lahontan still expects the PEA to be completed by the end of August. Completion of the updated MRE and PEA will represent major milestones in advancing the Santa Fe Mine Project toward State and Federal permitting and the planned restart of gold and silver production in 2027. Santa Fe Mine Site Exploration: To date, Lahontan has completed 16 reverse-circulation rotary (“RVC”) drill holes totaling 4,677 metres in depth. The Company has announced results for five drill holes, including the discovery of a new, previously unrecognized zone of gold mineralization west of the Slab resource (“Slab West”). Key intercepts include 35.0 metres grading 0.34 g/t Au Eq (CAL26-03R; 164.6 – 199.6 m) and 61.0 metres grading 0.26 g/t Au Eq (CAL26-01R; 184.4 – 245.4 m) (please see Lahontan Gold press release dated June 9, 2026 for more details). The Slab West discovery remains open up-dip, down-dip, and along strike, and has the potential to host significant new gold and silver resources at the Santa Fe Mine Project. Results for the balance of the RVC drill holes completed to date have been delayed by the unprecedented level of exploration and mine development activity across Nevada, a sign of the robust state of the industry. Analytical laboratories are operating at full capacity in order to meet the incredible demand. Lahontan has planned a minimum of 5,000 metres of additional RVC drilling at the Santa Fe Mine Project, that total could increase with additional positive results. Historic Heap Leach Pad Drilling Program: Published records of gold and silver production from the Santa Fe Mine during the period 1988 through 1995 total 359,202 ounces of gold and 702,067 ounces of silver, utilizing open pit mining with heap-leach precious metal recovery (Nevada Bureau of Mines). Given estimated historic recoveries for gold and silver, significant quantities of gold and silver likely remain within the four heap leach pads, providing an opportunity to evaluate a potentially low-cost source of future production. To evaluate the potential to reprocess this material, Lahontan is completing an extensive drilling campaign to determine the residual gold and silver grade of the heap leach pads and confirm tonnages. The Company is utilizing a Sonic drill rig that collects large volume samples of the unconsolidated heap leach material for lab testing. To date, Lahontan has completed 54 drill holes totaling 982 metres on Heap Leach Pads One and Two, plus an additional nine drill holes (251 metres) on a “low grade” stockpile left by Corona Gold. Forty Sonic drill holes remain to be completed, four on Heap Leach Pad One, 15 drill holes on Heap Leach Pad Three, and the final 21 Sonic drill holes on Heap Leach Pad Four, a total 1,233 metres of drilling. Samples from all the drill holes completed to date have been shipped to the laboratory for gold and silver analysis. Ground Water Studies and Waste Rock Geochemical Characterization: A key component of State level mine permitting in Nevada is the identification and monitoring of the depth to groundwater in the areas of proposed open pit mining. Proposed open-pit mining that does not intercept the water table can be permitted more rapidly, as the need to mitigate impacts on groundwater can largely be avoided. Lahontan drilled nine diamond core drill holes totalling 2,092 metres and two RVC drill holes totaling 477 metres as part of our program to determine the depth to groundwater in the areas of proposed open pit mining at Santa Fe. None of these drill holes intercepted the water table, in agreement with historic drilling observations. Despite not intercepting groundwater, the Company, on advice from our permitting team, installed piezometers in four of the drill holes to facilitate long-term monitoring of groundwater during periods of groundwater recharge. The nine diamond core drill holes also provided valuable samples for the geochemical characterization of waste rock that will be generated during future mining activities. Understanding the weathering behavior of waste rock, and the potential to generate acidic runoff over time, is another component of State level mine permitting. Core samples have been submitted to a specialized laboratory for analysis; results are expected over the coming weeks. It is important to note that mine dumps from Corona Gold mine operations total 27.2M tonnes of waste rock, rock that has been sitting undisturbed for over 40 years without evidence of acid rock drainage.
