Lahontan Gold Corp. (TSX.V: LG) (OTCQB: LGCXF) has released initial results from its 2026 Sonic core drilling program at the Santa Fe Mine Project, revealing that historic low-grade stockpiles contain substantially higher gold and silver grades than originally estimated. The drilling targeted a stockpile adjacent to Heap Leach Pad Two, where cyanide-extractable gold assays averaged over 30%, indicating favorable characteristics for heap-leach reprocessing. The company believes this readily accessible material could provide a lower-cost source for future processing as it advances toward restarting production at the Santa Fe Mine in 2027.
The nearly 100-hole Sonic drilling program has concluded across the site’s four historic heap leach pads, with results from six additional holes in the low-grade stockpile expected shortly. This program is designed to define resources remaining in historic heap leach pads and stockpiles that could serve as a cost-effective feed for future operations. The Santa Fe Mine previously produced 359,202 ounces of gold and 702,067 ounces of silver between 1988 and 1995 from open pit mines using heap-leach processing.
Lahontan Gold holds four top-tier gold and silver exploration properties in the Walker Lane of Nevada, with the Santa Fe Mine as its flagship asset. The project boasts a National Instrument 43-101 compliant Indicated Mineral Resource of 1,539,000 ounces of gold equivalent (48,393,000 tonnes grading 0.92 g/t Au and 7.18 g/t Ag) and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 411,000 ounces of gold equivalent (16,760,000 tonnes grading 0.74 g/t Au and 3.25 g/t Ag). The company plans to update the Santa Fe Preliminary Economic Assessment and drill test its satellite West Santa Fe project during 2025.
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael Lindholm, CPG, Independent Consulting Geologist to Lahontan Gold Corp., who is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.lahontangoldcorp.com. The full press release is available at https://ibn.fm/a0odu.
