Gold Co. Finds Promising Recoveries, Eyes 2029 Production in Nevada

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1. Ownership and Share Structure Information

The information listed above was updated on the date this article was published and was compiled from information from the company and various other data providers.

On December 18, 2025, Dakota Gold Corp. (DC:NYSE American) updated its shareholders on the metallurgical testing program ("Met Program"), which was created to inform the Feasibility Study ("FS") at its Richmond Hill Oxide Heap Leach Gold Project ("Richmond Hill" or the "Project").

The Feasibility Study Metallurgical Program for the project is expected to be finished by the third quarter of 2026, with progressive testing and reporting of key milestones along the way. In 2025, the company carried out extensive metallurgical drilling and plans to send 4,000 kg of material, representing 28 potential geo-metallurgical domains, to Forte Dynamics Lab for analysis. The company also intends to perform over 30 column tests. So far, results have been obtained for two initial composites from the MW3 zone in the northern part of the property.

Key points from this update include:

1. High-grade areas have been identified as candidates for early mining. The company is assessing opportunities to optimize the mine plan sequence in the Feasibility Study and will update the resource in 2026 to incorporate data from 200 drill holes completed in the 2025 drilling program. The two columns tested from the MW3 zone had grades of 0.96 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) and 23.1 g/t silver (Ag), and 0.53 g/t Au and 17.3 g/t Ag, respectively. The current resource model for the MW3 zone does not yet include high-grade intercepts reported from the 2025 drilling, such as 1.94 g/t Au over 60.0 meters (116 gram meters) in hole RH25C-164 and 2.78 g/t Au over 39.3 meters (109 gram meters) in hole RH25C-169.
2. Column recoveries ranging from 61% to 65% were achieved in less than 60 days. Two columns of material grading 0.96 g/t Au were tested at 1" and 0.5" crush sizes, while two columns of material grading 0.53 g/t Au were tested at 0.75" and 0.5" crush sizes. Previous column testing at the Richmond Hill mine showed that material classified as oxide by St. Joe achieved an average recovery of 89%, and the current results are complementary and consistent with historical variability testing (Appendix A). The samples were selected for initial characterization and classification. Deportment analysis has provided guidance on further test work needed to optimize recoveries and process design.
3. The project shows potential for capital and operating cost efficiencies due to a positive response to heap leaching amenability factors. Preliminary compact permeability tests have properties that allow for greater flexibility in equipment selection and stacking methodology. Additional testing of crush size, including a "Run-of-Mine" test program, has been initiated to investigate the impact of eliminating crushing for certain material.

In light of this news, President and COO Jack Henris commented, "The FS and Met Program represent an important step in the evaluation and de-risking process for Richmond Hill. Historical metallurgical tests exhibited variability in column recoveries, and similar variability is anticipated in the current Program. The results are consistent with my experience with comparable heap leach gold deposits and support the potential for low-cost leach heap processing as envisioned in our July IACF. Over the next 12 months, we will finalize our FS metallurgical testing and trade-off studies to support the FS and to inform future permitting activities."

CFO Shawn Campbell also shared his thoughts on the release, saying, "I'm very excited to be part of the team that is advancing the Richmond Hill gold project towards a potential multi-billion NPV opportunity, in possibly the best gold price environments we've seen in decades. We will continue to advance the Project with urgency as we work towards production in 2029."

Will Gold Hit US$5,000?

Gold has been making waves this year, as it has been seen as a hedge against inflation in turbulent markets. In a December 9, 2025, Mining Network interview with Ronnie Stöferle, managing partner at Incrementum AG and author of In Gold We Trust, Stöferle projected a US$5,000 gold price, saying that gold could, "pretty easily [ebe] above US$5,000" by the end of next year, with a long-term target of US$8,900 by the end of the decade.

In a December 15, 2025, research note from Couilor Capital, the analyst noted that, "Gold prices ended higher by 2.5% during the week after the Federal Reserve cut the interest rate by 25 bps and signaled a much less hawkish outlook on monetary policy." 

The same day, Simon White of Bloomberg wrote that, "The bull market in gold should remain intact next year, with demand spreading to commodities in general . . .  Is it over? It's a legitimate question after gold's explosive performance this year, but there's little reason to doubt the ascent can't continue, albeit at a slower pace."

On December 17, 2025, Yahoo Finance writer Pedro Goncalves reported that gold prices reached even higher after the U.S. Jobs Report came out, showing that unemployment had risen in the last month. This solidified the market's theory that further interest rate cuts are coming. The report stated that, "Gold futures rose 0.3% to US$4,347.10 an ounce, while spot gold climbed 0.8% to US$4,314.10 at the time of writing."

Gold spiked to US$4,343 on December 19, 2025, as reported by Ernest Hoffman of Kitco, in light of declining consumer sentiment. The report quoted Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu, who said, "Despite some signs of improvement to close out the year, sentiment remains nearly 30% below December 2024, as pocketbook issues continue to dominate consumer views of the economy," reflecting a possible increase in gold purchasing as sentiment remains low. 

Outperform-Rated Stock

On December 2, 2025, BMO Capital Markets analyst Andrew Mikitchook shared an updated report on Dakota Gold. In his report, Mikitchook maintained his Outperform rating on the stock and his target price of US$10. 

Catalysts"

As stated above, the press release noted that the Feasibility Study Metallurgical Program for the project is expected to be finished by the third quarter of 2026, and the company is working toward an estimated production date in 2029. 

In Andrew Mikitchook's research note, mentioned above, Andrew Mikitchook believed that major catalysts for Dakota Gold and Richmond Hill include completion of the feasibility study . . . and first gold pour, slated for late 2029.

Ownership and Share Structure¹

Twelve insiders own 12.57% of Dakota Gold and numerous institutions hold 48.93% of Dakota in aggregate. Top institutions include Orion Resource Partners (USA) LP with 6.34%, The Vanguard Group with 4.25%, BlackRock Institutional Trust Co. N.A. with 4.31%, and Van Eck Associates Corp. with 3%. The rest is in retail.

Dakota Gold has 113.26 million outstanding shares, and its market cap is US$528.93 million. Its 52-week range is US$2.05–5.51 per share.