Lahontan Gold Corp. (TSX.V: LG) (OTCQB: LGCXF) has reported initial results from its 2026 Sonic core drilling program at the Santa Fe Mine Project in Nevada, with drill holes confirming substantial gold and silver mineralization within a historic stockpile originally classified as low-grade material. The company stated that assays from the stockpile, located adjacent to Heap Leach Pad Two, returned grades significantly exceeding the material's original classification, indicating that the stockpile may be suitable for future reprocessing at relatively low cost. Additionally, cyanide-extractable gold assays averaged more than 30%, pointing to favorable heap-leach characteristics.
The nearly 100-hole Sonic drilling program has now concluded across the site's four historic heap leach pads. Results from six additional holes in the low-grade stockpile are expected shortly. The program is designed to define remaining resources in the historic heap leach pads and stockpiles, which 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. The company believes that accessing these materials could reduce initial capital requirements and accelerate the timeline to production.
The Santa Fe Mine project, covering 26.4 km² in the Walker Lane of Nevada, 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. According to the company's NI 43-101 compliant technical report, the Santa Fe Mine hosts an 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) 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), all pit constrained. The company plans to continue advancing the project towards production, update the Santa Fe Preliminary Economic Assessment, and drill test its satellite West Santa Fe project during 2025.
For more information, visit the company's website at www.lahontangoldcorp.com. The full press release is available at https://ibn.fm/a0odu.
