Lahontan Gold Corp. (TSX.V: LG) (OTCQB: LGCXF) has announced initial results from its 2026 Sonic core drilling program at the Santa Fe Mine Project, with drilling confirming significant gold and silver mineralization in a historic “low-grade” stockpile. The grades substantially exceed the material’s original classification, the company reported.
The stockpile, adjacent to Heap Leach Pad Two, contains readily accessible material that the company believes may be suitable for low-cost future reprocessing. Cyanide-extractable gold assays averaged more than 30%, indicating favorable heap-leach characteristics. This discovery could provide a lower-cost source of future processing material as the company advances its goal of restarting production at the Santa Fe Mine in 2027.
Lahontan said the nearly 100-hole Sonic drilling program has now concluded across the site’s four historic heap leach pads, with results from six additional holes in the low-grade stockpile expected shortly. The program is designed to define resources remaining in historic heap leach pads and stockpiles.
For leaders in the mining and resource sector, this news underscores the potential value of re-evaluating historic stockpiles with modern drilling techniques. The higher-than-expected grades could translate into improved project economics and a faster path to production for Lahontan Gold, potentially impacting the company's valuation and the broader market for gold and silver projects in Nevada.
According to the company's website www.lahontangoldcorp.com, Lahontan Gold Corp. is a Canadian mine development and mineral exploration company that holds four top-tier gold and silver exploration properties in the Walker Lane of mining-friendly Nevada. Its flagship property, the 26.4 km² 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 Canadian National Instrument 43-101 compliant Indicated Mineral Resource of 1,539,000 oz Au Eq (48,393,000 tonnes grading 0.92 g/t Au and 7.18 g/t Ag, together grading 0.99 g/t Au Eq) and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 411,000 oz Au Eq (16,760,000 tonnes grading 0.74 g/t Au and 3.25 g/t Ag, together grading 0.76 g/t Au Eq), all pit constrained. The company plans to continue advancing the Santa Fe Mine project towards production, 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 as defined in National Instrument 43-101. For more details, the full press release is available at https://ibn.fm/a0odu.
This discovery could have significant implications for the mining industry, particularly for companies with historic stockpiles that may have been overlooked. The ability to reprocess material at lower costs could extend mine life and improve profitability, making it a strategy worth monitoring for investors and industry stakeholders.
