Ragged Top Gold Project
The Ragged Top claims and property consists of 71 unpatented lode-mining claims (982 acres), staked in September and March 2021, plus a combination of surface and mineral title to an additional 25 patented mining claims covering approximately 307 acres that were secured on March 9, 2021, through an option agreement with Donald Valentine of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. On August 21, 2021, Dakota Gold purchased surface and mineral title to approximately 230 acres of patented land from Atlas Development Company. In total, the claims and property cover approximately 1,519 acres in the western portion of Lawrence County, South Dakota, USA that lie within the Black Hills Meridian, Township 5N, Range2E covering portions of Sections 19, 20, 22, 28, 29, 30, 32, and 33, and Township 4 N, Range2E covering a portion of Section 5.
Dakota Gold maintains 100% ownership of the property. There are no known encumbrances of any kind and there are no other known private surface rights owners within the bounds of the unpatented claims with all surface rights on that portion of the property under the control of the USFS. The annual claim maintenance fees total $11,715.
Access to the claims and property is gained by traveling 1 mile southwest of Lead SD on Highway 85/ 14A to State Highway 473 and then traveling west approximately 3.2 miles to Wharf Mine Road and continuing generally northwest approximately 4.2 miles to the site of historic Preston gold camp.
Tertiary-aged gold mineralization in the Ragged Top area is hosted primarily in the Paha Sapa Limestone formation and has been mined from both vertical fissures called "Verticals" and from collapsed breccias.
Dakota Gold's Ragged Top claims and property are located just northwest of the producing Wharf Mine (Coeur Mining) and approximately 3 miles southwest of the former Richmond Hill Mine (Barrick). The Atlas Development and Deadwood Standard portion of the property was the site of historic small scale gold operations and was explored with shallow drilling by Homestake Mining Company in the 1970s and 1980s. Historic resources on the property were included in State Mine Permit 416, which is still active. Dakota Gold believes that the Ragged Top Property is an excellent prospect for additional tertiary-aged limestone hosted gold mineralization and for tertiary-aged gold and silver replacement mineralization in the preferred Deadwood formation host that lies deep under the cover of the limestone that dominates the surface exposure.
Data compilation and reconnaissance field work is scheduled for 2024.
