The company has just announced some strong drill results from its 2024 Phase 1 drill campaign at its flagship Santa Fe Mine project, can you talk us through some of the stand out figures?
One of the best intercepts was in drill hole CAL24-007R which hit 48.8m grading 0.44g/t Au and 7.4g/t Ag (0.51g/t Au Eq) of shallow oxide mineralization, including 7.6m grading 1.08g/t Au and 8.3g/t Ag (1.16g/t Au Eq). This intercept is approximately 350m north of the Slab open pit and almost 100m north of the 2023 MRE conceptual pit shell, greatly expanding the footprint of gold and silver mineralization at Slab. Another important drill intercept was in hole CAL24-003R which cut 41.2m grading 0.88g/t Au and 2.1g/t Ag (0.90g/t Au Eq) of very shallow oxide mineralization, including 16.8m grading 1.39g/t Au and 2.2g/t Ag (1.41g/t Au Eq) about 300m north of drill hole -007R. Both these drill holes expanded the scale of the conceptual pit shell used to constrain mineral resources in the recently released updated MRE.
The results show the strong potential of the Santa Fe Mine project, as the company is busy working to define areas for future resource expansion, when can we expect an updated MRE?
Lahontan just released its updated 2024 MRE for the Santa Fe Mine project. Total project-wide indicated resources increased to 48.393Mt grading 0.99g/t Au Eq containing 1,539,000oz Au Eq, and inferred resources of 16.760Mt grading 0.76g/t Au Eq containing 411,000oz Au Eq, a total of nearly 2,000,000oz — an increase of 290,000oz Au Eq compared to the 2023 MRE. Indicated oxide resources totalled 29.106Mt grading 0.68g/t Au Eq, containing 640,000oz Au Eq and inferred oxide resources of 12.912Mt grading 0.53g/t Au Eq containing 219,000oz Au Eq, a total of nearly 860,000oz Au Eq.
Lahontan Gold has also been rapidly progressing towards a PEA, what kind of numbers are you expecting from the PEA, are things looking positive?
Now that we have the 2024 MRE in place, we are working rapidly to complete the PEA. We are targeting an eight-year mine life, plus 75,000oz Au Eq annual production rate, life of mine (LOM) cash costs below C$900/Au Eq oz and a very robust IRR.
Gold prices are extremely bullish at the moment, hitting record highs, do you see this continuing as we head towards 2025?
Predicting gold prices in a very volatile world is a challenging job. Long term pricing trends, i.e. 10-20 year moving averages, all support continued appreciation of gold prices. However, we expect a great deal of volatility along the way.
What do you think are the key macroeconomic drivers causing gold prices to rally so much?
With US inflation seemingly under control (for now!), we think that emotional factors tied to the US elections, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and China related instability in Asia will be large factors driving the number on save haven commodity in the world.
What do you see Lahontan’s project milestone timeline looking like in the next few months?
We expected to release the results of our PEA in early November which should be a huge catalyst to the company. Our exploration plan of operations will be submitted to the BLM in November, with approval and the beginning of the NEPA process expected in late December. We have begun permitting at the state level for the resumption of mine operations in parallel with completing a mine plan of operations for the BLM in 2025. All of the above should generate solid news flow over the next 18 months. We hope to begin drilling at West Santa Fe in the near term and are planning additional drilling for Santa Fe in 2025. Its full speed ahead for Lahontan Gold Corp!
