Lahontan Gold is advancing technical studies and permitting activities at its Santa Fe gold-silver project in Nevada, with an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) and revised Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) expected to provide key development milestones in 2026. The company said the updated MRE is nearing completion and is expected within weeks. Following the resource update, Lahontan plans to complete a revised PEA by the end of August 2026. The company is targeting a potential project restart in 2027, with the Santa Fe asset progressing through resource evaluation, engineering studies and regulatory processes.
Updated studies to define restart infrastructure
The revised PEA is expected to establish the project’s planned infrastructure requirements, including heap leach pads, open pits and waste-rock storage areas. After completing the PEA, Lahontan intends to submit a Mine Plan of Operations to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Santa Fe is a brownfields gold-silver restart project located in Nevada’s Walker Lane region. Lahontan said the project remains on schedule to begin construction activities in 2027, while state and federal permitting work continues.
Drilling programme expands resource and exploration base
The company has completed 87 drill holes totaling 7,751 metres during 2026 as part of resource definition, exploration and project development programmes. Exploration drilling has also identified a new gold mineralization zone west of the existing Slab resource, named Slab West.
Lahontan reported drill intercepts from the zone including 35.0 metres grading 0.34 grams per tonne gold equivalent and 61.0 metres grading 0.26 grams per tonne gold equivalent. The company said the Slab West mineralized zone remains open up-dip, down-dip and along strike, providing additional exploration potential.
Historic heap leach pads evaluated for recoverable metals
Lahontan is also assessing historic heap leach pads at Santa Fe as a possible source of additional recoverable gold and silver ounces. Historical production records show that Santa Fe produced 359,202 ounces of gold and 702,067 ounces of silver between 1988 and 1995 through open-pit mining and heap-leach recovery.
The company is conducting drilling on the historic pads to determine remaining gold and silver grades and confirm material volumes. Results from this work are expected to contribute to the evaluation of potential low-cost metal recovery opportunities within the existing project area.
Groundwater studies support permitting process
Lahontan is continuing permitting-related technical work, including groundwater investigations in planned open-pit areas. The company reported that groundwater drilling in proposed pit locations did not encounter the water table. If confirmed through additional work, the results could simplify certain aspects of Nevada state permitting requirements.
The upcoming resource estimate, revised economic assessment, heap leach evaluation results and permitting progress are expected to guide further advancement of the Santa Fe project through 2026 and toward the planned 2027 restart.
