Lahontan Gold Corp (TSX-V:LG) (OTCQB:LGCXF)  is pleased to announce that today it has signed a definitive agreement with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Emergent Metals Corp to acquire the advanced West Santa Fe gold-silver exploration project (also known as Mindora), located only 15 km West of Lahontan’s Flagship asset, the Santa Fe Mine, in Nevada’s prolific Walker Lane.  West Santa Fe hosts an oxidized gold-silver mineralized system in a geologic setting similar to Santa Fe.  Previous exploration drilling at West Santa Fe totals over 13,000 metres in 171 drill holes; only five holes are deeper than 165 metres.  Preliminary modeling of drill hole data by Lahontan geologists outlines a shallow gold and silver system with a sufficient volume to host 0.5 to 1.0M ounces of oxidized gold and silver mineralization in an open-pit mining configuration[1].

The Agreement requires Lahontan to make payments totalling US$1.8M over a seven-year period to Emergent, back-end loaded, to exercise an option to acquire a 100% interest in West Santa Fe (please see Lahontan Gold press release dated May 15, 2023 for more details).  The option payments can be made in a combination of cash and shares at Lahontan’s discretion. In addition, the Company will commit to exploration expenditures totalling US$1.4M over the same seven-year period, these expenditures should be sufficient to define an initial mineral resource estimate for West Santa Fe.  The Agreement is subject to the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange which is expected shortly.

Lahontan recently announced that it has acquired an additional 794 hectares of mineral rights by staking 95 unpatented lode mining claims at West Santa Fe; the Project now covers a of total 19.7 km^{2 (}please see Lahontan press release dated May 31, 2023). The Lahontan geologic team studied the data that was acquired when optioning the West Santa Fe Project and concluded that there is potential for significant resource expansion outside the previously existing claim group.  The new unpatented mining claims also cover areas that could be used for potential future mining infrastructure such as heap-leach pads and waste rock dumps.

During its due diligence program at West Santa Fe, the Company completed a rock-chip sampling program which produced up to 13.54 g/t Au Eq, ranging from 0.13 g/t to 13.54 g/t Au Eq (please see Lahontan press release dated June 13, 2023 and table below for definition of Au Eq).  Four rock-chip samples from outcrop in the main Au and Ag mineralized zone ranged from 2.71 to 13.54 g/t Au Eq and averaged 7.30 g/t Au Eq. Lahontan geologists also completed detailed statistical analysis of historic soil geochemical data from West Santa Fe, the results show a remarkable correlation with known mineralized areas and outline multiple targets for further exploration.

Kimberly Ann, Lahontan Founder, CEO, President, and Director commented: “The completion of the Agreement to acquire West Santa Fe is another major step forward for Lahontan. The Company continues to accelerate the value-creation process by controlling four Top-Shelf precious metal exploration and mine development projects in a Tier One mining jurisdiction. Our land holdings in Nevada now total 57 km², with the goal of Lahontan becoming the oxide consolidator in the Walker Lane.  Our geologic team is already busy compiling and verifying historic drill hole data in anticipation of an initial drilling program later this year.”

[1] The exploration target at West Santa Fe is conceptual in nature and is based on the size of the known mineralized zones, and gold and silver grades from historical drilling. The qualified person has not completed sufficient work to verify the historical information on West Santa Fe and this information should not be relied on.

Results from rock-chip sampling at the West Santa Fe Project. Au Eq equals (Au g/t) + ((Ag g/t)/75). Metallurgical recovery has not been factored as insufficient test-work is available to determine potential Ag recoveries.

Location of the West Santa Fe Project, Mineral County, Nevada.  Lahontan’s land holdings in the Walker Lane now total 57 square kilometres.

Qualified Persons Review: 

The technical and scientific information contained within this news release have been reviewed and approved by Quentin J. Browne, MSc., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 policy. The Qualified Person has not completed sufficient work to verify the historical information on West Santa Fe, the Company believes the historical resource estimates to be both relevant and reliable. The information provides an indication of the exploration potential of West Santa Fe but may not be representative of expected results.

QA/QC Protocols:

Lahontan conducts an industry standard QA/QC program for rock sampling programs. All rock samples were sent to American Assay Laboratories (AAL) in Sparks, Nevada, USA for analyses. Delivery to the lab was either by a Lahontan Gold employee or by an AAL driver. Analyses for all samples consisted of Au analysis using 30-gram fire assay with ICP finish, along with a 36-element geochemistry analysis performed on each sample utilizing two acid digestion ICP-AES method. Tellurium or 50-element analyses were performed on select drill holes utilizing ICP-MS method. Cyanide leach analyses, using a tumble time of 2 hours and analyzed with ICP-AES method, were performed on select drill holes for Au and Ag recovery. AAL inserts their own blanks, standards and conducts duplicate analyses to ensure proper sample preparation and equipment calibration. We have all results reported in grams per tonne (g/t).

About Lahontan Gold Corp.

Lahontan Gold Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company that holds, through its US subsidiaries, four top-tier gold and silver exploration properties in the Walker Lane of mining friendly Nevada. Lahontan’s flagship property, the 19 km² Santa Fe Mine, had past production of 345,000 ounces of gold and 711,000 ounces of silver between 1988 and 1995 from open pit mines utilizing heap-leach processing (Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, 1995). The Santa Fe Mine has Canadian National Instrument 43-101 compliant Indicated Mineral Resources of 1,112,000 oz Au Eq (grading 1.14 g/t Au Eq) and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 544,000 oz Au Eq (grading 1.00 g/t Au Eq), all pit constrained (Au Eq is inclusive of recovery, please see Santa Fe Project Technical Report*). The Company will continue to aggressively explore Santa Fe during 2023 and begin the process of evaluating development scenarios to bring the Santa Fe Mine back into production. Quentin J. Browne, P.Geo., Consulting Geologist to Lahontan Gold Corp., is the Qualified Person for the Company and approved the technical content of this news release.