Blind Gold Project
The Blind Gold Project consists of 191 unpatented lode-mining claims. In total, the Blind Gold Property covers approximately 3,387 acres in the western portion of Lawrence County, South Dakota, USA. More specifically the claims lie within the Black Hills Meridian, Township 5N, Ranges 2 and 3 E covering portions of Sections 1, 2, 11, 12 13 and 14 in Range 2E and Sections 5,6,7,8 and 18 in Range 3E.
Dakota acquired 84 of the claims through the acquisition of North Homestake Mining Company in September 2012. In December 2012, Dakota’s Blind Gold Property position was increased through the acquisition of 23 additional claims from Black Hills Gold Exploration LLC. Dakota added 63 contiguous claims on its west and south western property boundary in February 2020 and in December 2020, 21 additional claims were at the western boundary of the property. Dakota owns a 100% interest in the 191 claims that comprise the main block of the Blind Gold Property with no known encumbrance. There are no known private surface rights owners within the bounds of the main block of the Blind Gold Property with all surface rights under the control of the US Forest Service. Annual claim maintenance fees are $165 per claim, or a total of $31,515 for the claims that comprise the main block of the Blind Gold Property. Annual claim maintenance fees are due before September 1st of each year.
Notice must be filed with and approved by the US Forest Service (“USFS”), and the South Dakota Division of Environment and Natural Resources (“SDDANR”) prior to undertaking any exploration activities. The notice describes the proposed exploration activities and any remedial reclamation deemed necessary. The various government agencies review the application to ensure there will be no deleterious impacts as a result of activity on the claims prior to granting any approvals for the proposed work.
Access to the property is gained by traveling 4.3 miles south-southeast from the City of Spearfish along the Maitland Road (Forest Service 195). Alternately, the area can be accessed from the south via the same Maitland Road from Central City. The northern segment of the property can be accessed from the Maitland Road via Forest Service Road 195-2A and the southern portion can be accessed via the Paradise Gulch Road. In addition, various forest service roads exist within the property.
The Blind Gold Property is located approximately 4 miles northwest and on structural trend with the Homestake Gold Mine. In the 1980′s and 1990’s Homestake Mining Company’s work in the District extended and Homestake iron-formation host under cover and demonstrated the repeatability of Homestake iron- formation hosted gold deposits within the structural corridor extending northwest of the mine.
In addition to the exploration potential for gold hosted in the Homestake iron-formation, the Blind Gold Property holds exploration potential for Tertiary-aged gold and silver replacement deposits typical of the District, with the mineralization hosted in the Cambrian Deadwood formation and to a lesser degree the Paha Sapa Limestone. The formation of Tertiary-age gold-silver replacement deposits is generally dependent on fault and fracture structures necessary to the transportation of mineralizing fluids and proximity to the preferential intrusive bodies, both of which are present at the Blind Gold Property. Tertiary-age gold mineralization is evidenced across the Blind Gold Property by numerous mapped prospect workings dating from the turn of the century in the Paha Sapa Limestone, Phonolite intrusive and Deadwood formation where it outcrops at the southwest corner of the property. The Blind Gold Property is an exploration target for
the on-trend continuation of Tertiary aged gold-silver replacement deposits in the preferred Deadwood formation host under the cover of the Paha Sapa limestone.
