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EXHIBIT 31.1

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-14 OR 15D-14 OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302
OFTHE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, W. Pierce Carson, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K of Santa Fe
Gold Corporation (the registrant);

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any
untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
report;

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4. The registrants other certifying officer(s) and I are
responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures
(as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal controls
over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and
15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

(a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to
ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its
consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities,
particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

(b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our
supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding reliability of financial
reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in
accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

(c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrants disclosure
controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the
period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

(d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrants
internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrants
most recent fiscal quarter (the registrants fourth fiscal quarter in the case
of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
materially affect, the registrants internal control over financial reporting;
and

5. The registrants other certifying officers and I have
disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
financial reporting, to the registrants auditors and the audit committee of the
registrants board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
functions):

(a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrants ability to record,
process, summarize and report financial information; and

(b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrants
internal control over financial reporting.

|Date: September 13, 2011 |     |                                     
|------------------------ | --- | ------------------------------------
|                         | By: | /s/ W.
      Pierce Carson          
|                         |     | W. Pierce Carson                    
|                         |     | President, Chief Executive Officer, 
|                         |     | Director and Chief Financial Officer

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