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EXHIBIT 31.1

CERTIFICATIONPURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE
SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, W. Pierce Carson, certify that:

1.        I have reviewed
this Form 10-Q of Santa Fe Gold Corporation (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 quarterly 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 control 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 quarterly 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 the 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 officer(s) 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
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.

|                        | /s/ W.
      Pierce Carson                  
|----------------------- | --------------------------------------------
|Dated: November 8, 2010 | W. Pierce Carson,                           
|                        | Chief Executive Officer, President, Director
|                        | and Principal Accounting Officer            

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