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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-14 and
15d-14) 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: February 16, 2009 | W. Pierce Carson,                                     
|                         | Chief Executive Officer, President, Director
      and
|                         | Principal Accounting Officer                          

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