Dakota Gold Corp.: Form 10-K - Filed by newsfilecorp.com
Dakota Gold Corp. filed its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024. The company reported a market value of $230.9 million for its common equity held by non-affiliates as of June 30, 2024. As of March 20, 2025, there were 99,476,843 shares of common stock outstanding. The company’s securities are listed on the NYSE American under the ticker symbols DC and DC.WS. The report does not provide detailed financial information, but it does indicate that the company is a smaller reporting company and an emerging growth company, and that it has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with new or revised financial accounting standards.
Overview of Dakota Gold’s Richmond Hill Project
Dakota Gold Corporation is a mining company focused on exploring and developing gold projects in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. The company’s flagship asset is the Richmond Hill Project, which covers approximately 3,002 mineral acres in Lawrence County, South Dakota.
The Richmond Hill Project has a long history of mining activity dating back to the late 19th century, when modest amounts of gold, lead, and silver were produced. More recently, the property was operated as an open-pit, heap leach gold mine by Bond Gold and LAC Minerals from 1988 to 1993, producing an estimated 172,294 ounces of gold and 212,610 ounces of silver.
Geological Setting and Mineralization
The Richmond Hill Project is located in the Black Hills, an isolated mountain range in southwestern South Dakota. The property sits at an elevation of around 6,000 feet and includes the past-producing Richmond Hill mine as well as the historic Carbonate District mines.
Gold mineralization at Richmond Hill is primarily found in Tertiary-aged breccia pipe bodies hosted within Precambrian basement rocks. Tertiary-aged replacement gold mineralization and possible Precambrian iron formation-hosted mineralization have also been identified on the property through previous exploration programs.
Dakota Gold has conducted extensive drilling at the Richmond Hill Project, completing 152 holes totaling 160,902 feet (49,043 meters) by the end of 2024. This drilling has focused on infill and step-out programs in the central Richmond Hill resource area as well as the Chism Gulch target area, a shallow oxide portion of the orebody located adjacent to the main breccia pipe mineralization.
Mineral Resource Estimate
The latest mineral resource estimate for the Richmond Hill Project, effective as of February 3, 2025, is summarized in the table below:
| Resource Category | AuEq COG (oz/t) | Ktons | AuEq (oz/t) | Gold (oz/t) | Silver (oz/t) | Gold (koz) | Silver (koz) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leach Resource: | |||||||
| Measured Mineral Resource | - | 113,748 | 0.0164 | 0.0158 | 0.160 | 1,793.4 | 18,208 |
| Indicated Mineral Resource | - | 156,019 | 0.0125 | 0.0119 | 0.128 | 1,860.0 | 19,884 |
| Measured + Indicated | - | 269,768 | 0.0141 | 0.0135 | 0.141 | 3,653.3 | 38,092 |
| Inferred Mineral Resource | - | 254,186 | 0.0106 | 0.0103 | 0.090 | 2,613.4 | 22,787 |
| Mill Resource (Sulfides): | |||||||
| Measured Mineral Resource | 0.0050 | 20,703 | 0.0184 | 0.0165 | 0.151 | 341.6 | 3,126 |
| Indicated Mineral Resource | 0.0050 | 48,893 | 0.0147 | 0.0131 | 0.134 | 640.5 | 6,552 |
| Measured + Indicated | 0.0050 | 69,596 | 0.0158 | 0.0141 | 0.139 | 982.1 | 9,678 |
| Inferred Mineral Resource | 0.0050 | 202,221 | 0.0139 | 0.0121 | 0.145 | 2,446.9 | 29,322 |
| Leach and Mill Mineral Resource: | |||||||
| Measured Mineral Resource | - | 134,452 | 0.0167 | 0.0159 | 0.159 | 2,135.0 | 21,334 |
| Indicated Mineral Resource | - | 204,912 | 0.0130 | 0.0122 | 0.129 | 2,500.5 | 26,436 |
| Measured + Indicated | - | 339,364 | 0.0145 | 0.0137 | 0.141 | 4,635.4 | 47,770 |
| Inferred Mineral Resource | - | 456,407 | 0.0121 | 0.0111 | 0.114 | 5,060.3 | 52,109 |
The mineral resource estimate is based on a gold price of $2,000 per ounce and a silver price of $25 per ounce. Leach material is classified using a gold equivalent cutoff grade of 0.0026 oz/t for oxide and 0.0041 oz/t for transition material, while mill material uses a cutoff of 0.0050 oz/t gold equivalent.
In total, the Richmond Hill Project contains Measured and Indicated mineral resources of 4.64 million ounces of gold and 47.77 million ounces of silver, with an additional 5.06 million ounces of gold and 52.11 million ounces of silver in the Inferred category.
Maitland Project
In addition to the Richmond Hill Project, Dakota Gold also owns the Maitland Project, which covers 2,364 acres in the western portion of Lawrence County, South Dakota. The Maitland Project is an important part of the company’s exploration strategy for the structural corridor extending from the historic Homestake Gold Mine to the Blind Gold Property.
Exploration drilling at Maitland began in 2022, and by the end of 2024, the company had completed a total of 73 drill holes for 230,612 feet (70,291 meters). This drilling has led to the discovery of the Unionville Zone, which intercepted Tertiary-age, epithermal gold mineralization, as well as the JB Zone, which encountered high-grade Precambrian mineralization similar to that found at the Homestake mine.
Dakota Gold plans to continue exploration and expansion drilling at the Maitland Project in 2025, focusing on the Unionville and JB Zones as well as the iron formation within the structural corridor.
Barrick Option Project
In 2021, Dakota Gold entered into a three-year option agreement with Barrick to acquire 4,261 acres of surface rights and associated facilities and data in the Homestake District. This Barrick Option Agreement has since been extended to December 31, 2028, with additional annual payments required.
The Barrick Option area was previously part of or utilized in support of Homestake Mining Company’s historic gold operations. Dakota Gold believes there is potential to repurpose the existing infrastructure on this property if exploration is successful at the company’s nearby project areas.
Exploration and Sampling Procedures
Dakota Gold has implemented a detailed Exploration Procedures Manual that defines the company’s internal quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) protocols for sampling and analysis. These protocols include:
- All sampling conducted under the supervision of the VP Exploration
- Continuous monitoring of the chain of custody from project to sample prep facility
- Secure storage and labeling of samples
- Shipment of samples by commercial bonded shippers to accredited labs
- Insertion of certified reference materials, blanks, and duplicates into the sample stream
- Fire assay fusion with atomic absorption or gravimetric finish for gold analysis
- Four-acid digestion and ICP analysis for multi-element geochemistry
- Validation of analytical results through statistical analysis of QA/QC samples
Outlook and Conclusion
Dakota Gold’s Richmond Hill Project represents a significant gold and silver resource in the prolific Black Hills region of South Dakota. With Measured and Indicated resources of over 4.6 million ounces of gold and 47.7 million ounces of silver, the project has the potential to become an important domestic gold production source if further exploration and development is successful.
The company’s recent discoveries at the Maitland Project also highlight the prospectivity of its broader land package in the Homestake District. Continued drilling and evaluation of these new targets could uncover additional high-grade mineralization and expand Dakota Gold’s resource base.
While the company still faces permitting hurdles and the need for substantial capital investment to advance the Richmond Hill Project towards production, the robust mineral resource estimate and the company’s proven exploration capabilities provide a solid foundation for future growth. Investors will be closely watching Dakota Gold’s progress as it works to unlock the value of its Black Hills properties in the years ahead.
