Disseminated on behalf of Lahontan Gold Corp. (TSX.V: LG) (OTCQB: LGCXF) and may include paid advertising.
- Nevada posted a perfect 100 on the Policy Perception Index, the “report card” executives give governments on regulation, taxation, infrastructure and permitting
- Santa Fe hosts 2.385 million ounces of pit-constrained gold equivalent, up 22% on the 2024 estimate, and its Phase One oxide plan is now in Nevada state mine permitting
- Lahontan’s proposed acquisition of Emergent Metals would deliver 100% of West Santa Fe, remove two 1% royalties, and expand its Walker Lane claim package to more than 93 square kilometers
Every mining investor learns the same lesson eventually: geology gets a project started, but jurisdiction decides whether it gets built. A world-class deposit in a country that rewrites its mining code every election cycle can sit undeveloped for a generation, while a modest oxide resource in a stable state can be permitted, financed and poured. That is why the Fraser Institute’s Annual Survey of Mining Companies carries weight in boardrooms and brokerage offices alike, and why its 2025 edition, released February 26, 2026, matters to anyone holding a Nevada developer. Nevada is back on top of the Investment Attractiveness Index, moving up from second place a year earlier. Lahontan Gold Corp. (TSX.V: LG) (OTCQB: LGCXF), dual-listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and OTCQB, is a pure-play Nevada developer advancing the past-producing Santa Fe Mine in the Walker Lane and one of the companies built to convert that ranking into ounces.
How Nevada Got Back to Number One
The Fraser survey polled 256 mining industry respondents whose companies spent a combined US$4.2 billion on exploration in 2025. It scores 68 jurisdictions on two components: perceived mineral potential, weighted 60%, and policy, weighted 40%. Nevada’s mineral potential ranked fourth globally on the strength of its gold, silver and critical-mineral endowment. Its policy score is the headline. The state posted a perfect 100 on the Policy Perception Index, reflecting low regulatory uncertainty, competitive taxation, solid infrastructure and consistent governance. Ontario and Saskatchewan rounded out the top three.
For a junior developer, a perfect policy score translates into something concrete: a permitting process whose steps are known in advance. That is exactly what a company trying to hold a construction date need.
A Past Producing Mine, not a Greenfield Bet
Santa Fe is a 28.3 square kilometer past-producing open pit, heap-leach gold and silver mine. Between 1988 and 1995 it produced 359,202 ounces of gold and 702,067 ounces of silver. The site retains power, water and road access, which strips a meaningful share of capital cost and permitting complexity out of a restart compared with a greenfield discovery.
The resource has grown considerably since Lahontan took control. An updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate announced August 17, 2026, outlines 1,195,000 ounces of gold equivalent in the Indicated category and 1,190,000 ounces Inferred, all pit constrained. At 2.385 million ounces combined, the estimate is up 22% on the 2024 figure, and 2026 drilling added a new gold zone at Slab West and a 91-meter oxide intercept at Calvada.
The previous operator also left material behind. About 16 million tonnes of rock were processed on Santa Fe’s four historic heap-leach pads, and Lahontan is drilling them, along with adjacent stockpiles, to define residual gold and silver that could be reprocessed at far lower cost than fresh rock. Nine Sonic holes through a stockpile once classified as low grade averaged 1.96 g/t gold equivalent. Separately, the first ten holes on Heap Leach Pad Two returned a weighted average of 0.54 g/t gold equivalent, well above the 0.32 g/t expected from historic recovery records, with a highlight of 16.5 meters grading 2.72 g/t gold. More drilling is needed before any of it can be called a resource, but it is potential feed that requires no new mining at all.
Permitting a Nevada Timeline
Lahontan’s development path runs through seven milestones. Three are complete: the December 2024 Preliminary Economic Assessment, the 2025-2026 resource expansion program, and the August 2026 resource update. Two are under way: an updated PEA that will, for the first time, evaluate mining and processing the sulfide resource, and Nevada state mine permitting for the Phase One oxide plan, where the waste-rock geochemical characterization and groundwater modeling work is progressing. The federal Mine Plan of Operations follows, and construction is targeted for 2027.
That sequence is only credible in a jurisdiction where the regulatory steps are transparent. Nevada’s Division of Environmental Protection and the Bureau of Land Management operate processes that respondents to the Fraser survey rate as among the least uncertain in the world. Lahontan is not betting on a favorable political outcome. It is executing a known checklist.
Consolidating the District
The company is also using Nevada’s stability to grow its footprint. On September 16, Lahontan announced a definitive agreement to acquire Emergent Metals Corp. by plan of arrangement. If completed, the transaction would deliver 100% ownership of the West Santa Fe satellite project 13 kilometers from the flagship, eliminate approximately C$2.39 million in future acquisition payments, remove the 1% net smelter return royalty on West Santa Fe and a second 1% royalty on the York claims at Santa Fe, and add the New York Canyon project directly adjoining the mine’s southern boundary. The combined claim package would top 93 square kilometers. The deal remains subject to Emergent shareholder, court and exchange approvals.
West Santa Fe has earned the attention regardless. Maiden drilling in December 2025 returned 36.6 meters grading 3.11 g/t gold equivalent from surface, entirely in oxide, and a track-mounted reverse-circulation rig mobilized September 21 to begin approximately 3,500 meters of resource-definition and step-out drilling across 20 holes. A maiden resource estimate is targeted by year-end.
Why the Ranking Matters
Fraser’s survey reinforces what Nevada’s more than 100 operating mines already demonstrate: the state’s combination of geology, infrastructure and policy is as bankable as any in the world. Lahontan holds a past-producing mine with a growing resource inside that jurisdiction, is inside the state permitting process, and is consolidating the surrounding district while the majors compete for the same ground elsewhere in the state. The 2027 construction target is ambitious for a junior. Nevada is the jurisdiction that gives a junior the best chance of hitting it.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.LahontanGoldCorp.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to LGCXF are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/LGCXF
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