On May 21, 2018, Emergent announced it had signed a Letter of Intent with Nevada Sunrise LLC, a private Nevada company, giving it the right to purchase 12 unpatented mining (the “NS Claims”).  The Company also signed a separate Letter of Intent with BL Exploration LLC, also a private Nevada company, giving it the right to purchase 18 unpatented mining claims (the “BL Claims”). On December 17, 2020, Emgold announced it has staked 117 additional unpatented claims at West Santa Fe (historically known as the Mindora Property). Together, the 147 unpatented mining claims make up the Mindora Property (the “Property”).   The Company subsequently acquired both the NS and BL claims.

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The Property is an early-stage gold, silver, and base metal exploration property that was explored in the 1980’s and 1990’s.  The Property hosts near-surface gold and silver mineralization, and deeper molybdenum porphyry mineralization. Limestone and intermediate volcanic rocks of the Triassic Luning Formation underlie the east and central portions of the Property.  Quartz rhyolite and quartz latite dikes and sills, and altered granodiorite, intrude the meta-sedimentary and metavolcanic rocks.  Late Tertiary volcanic rocks and overburden cover the western portion of the Property.

 

The gold-silver zone is an epithermal, carbonate-hosted, structurally controlled deposit in the Luning Limestone Formation. Mineralization is primarily situated along two northeast-trending fault zones, known as the Mindora lineament and the Santa Fe lineament.  The gold-silver mineralization appears to be in pods of highly sheared, shattered, and altered limestone.  Many of the shallow holes testing near-surface gold-silver mineralization intercepted and ended in an extensive molybdenum stockwork system. The molybdenum is related to quartz latite and quartz porphyry dikes.  The extent of the molybdenum system is not known.  There is also evidence of copper skarn and copper porphyry mineralization on the Property from surface sampling, but no drilling has been done to test these targets.  The dominant structures are northeast-trending faults and secondary structures are northwest-trending Walker Lane-related faults.

 

The Property was discovered and worked in the late 1800’s.  In the 1920’s, a limited amount of production came from a series of rich, silver-bearing veins.  During the period 1946-1948, an estimated 10,000 tons of direct-shipping ore was mined from the Property at unknown grade. 

 

In the 1970’s, geologists recognized the epithermal nature of mineralization, and similarities to the nearby Santa Fe deposit and other carbonate-rich sediment-hosted gold deposits in Nevada.  The Santa Fe deposit, currently being advanced back into production by Lahontan Gold Corporation (TSXV: LG) was discovered in the late 1970’s and mined by Corona Gold in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.  Historic production estimated from Santa Fe Mine is 345,499 ounces of gold and 710,629 ounces of silver between 1989 and 1995 (source:  The Nevada Mineral Industry, Special Publication MI-2017, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology).  Note that the vicinity of the Property to a past producing mine is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization that may be hosted at the Property.  

 

Several companies staked the Property during this period, did limited sampling and geophysics, and then dropped their claims.  Hawthorne Gold Corporation acquired the Property in 1979, and in the following year, brought in E & B Exploration Inc. as a joint-venture partner and operator.  E & B completed programs of rock-chip sampling and trench sampling, surface and underground mapping, geophysical surveys, and drilled approximately 31,425 ft. (9,578 m) in 134 holes (including a water well and two diamond core holes). E & B’s work developed four known mineralized zones.

 

According to internal Hawthorne Gold Corporation summary reporting (1984), historic geophysical surveys completed on the Property include a 2.5 line-mile induced polarization survey (1974), a 5 line-mile VLF-EM survey (1978), 10 line-mile VLF-EM survey (1983) and a 10 line-mile ground magnetometer survey (1983).  

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Eureka Resources, Inc. acquired E & B’s interest in 1983. Eureka conducted IP, magnetic and VLF electromagnetic surveys, soil, and rock-chip sampling and drilled an additional approximately 11,441 ft. (3,487 m) in 40 holes. In 1988, Eureka commissioned metallurgical studies and a detailed review by Kilborn Engineering with the goal of developing a small open pit gold mine.

 

Historic exploration has resulted in the discovery of four separate mineralized zones.  The grades of these zones ranged from 0.022 to 0.041 opt gold, and 0.88 to 2.08 opt silver.  The potential exists for these zones to be connected by infill drilling.

 

Several resource estimates were done by various companies working on the Property between 1981 and 1988.  Eureka evaluated a small open pit mine in 1998 based on a historic resource of 1.04M tons averaging 0.037 opt gold and 1.78 opt Ag = 0.058 opt AuEq containing 58,800 AuEq ounces. This is a historical estimate prepared before the implementation of NI 43-101 and uses terminology not compliant with current reporting standards.  A qualified person has not audited or verified this estimate nor made any attempt to re-classify the estimate according to NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure or the CIM Standards.  There are currently no mineral resources or reserves defined on the Property that meet NI 43-101 or CIM disclosure standards.

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Eureka failed to file assessment work on the claims in 2001 and Nevada Sunrise LLC and BL Exploration staked the Property in 2001 and 2003, resulting in the current land package of the NS and BL Claims, respectively.  Little exploration work was done on the Property since the last drilling program, completed in 1995 until Emergent acquired it.  Total historic drilling on the Property is about 42,836 ft., mostly in vertical holes in the range of 200-300 ft.  The average depth is 250 ft. and the maximum drilling depth of 700 ft. (214 m).

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After acquiring West Santa Fe, Emergent completed an airborne magnetic-radiometric geophysics study in 2020 and conducted a soil sampling program on the eastern portion of the Property.

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On July 20, 2023, Emergent announced it has signed an Option to Purchase Agreement with Lahontan Gold Corporation whereby Lahontan can acquire a 100% interest in the Property by completing US$1.8 million in cash or share payments and US$1.4 million in exploration expenditures over a seven-year period (see press release for details).  Upon exercise of the Option, Lahontan will grant a 1% NSR to Emergent's subsidiary, Golden Arrow Mining Corporation, on the NS Claims and a 1.5% royalty on any claims not currently having an NSR.  Lahontan will retain a right to purchase 50% of the 1.5% NSR royalty for US$200,000 prior to the fifth anniversary of the Option to Purchase Agreement or US$500,000 thereafter.

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In 2023, Lahontan stated 95 claims adjacent to the West Santa Fe Property optioned from Emergent.  To date, Lahontan has completed 3-D modeling of historic drill data, geologic mapping, and surface sampling. 

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Lahontan views the Santa Fe West Property as a potential satellite deposit to their nearby Santa Fe Project, which is located about 10 miles to the northwest.  On December 11, 2024, Lahontan released a positive Preliminary Economic Analysis ("PEA") for the Santa Fe Project, which can be viewed under their corporate filings at www.sedarplus.ca.  Note the location of West Santa Fe Property to the Santa Fe Property does not guarantee exploration success at West Santa Fe.  

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No NI 43-101 Technical Report has yet been completed for the Santa Fe West Property.​​​​​​