Introducing Contango Silver and Gold

0:03 So I'll say good morning, good afternoon or good evening, depending on where in the world you're signing in from. I think almost every time Zone is represented in today's audience. There are quite a few of you. So really, thank you so much for joining us. I couldn't be more excited to have with me today, Rick Van Noonhuis, CEO of Contango Silver and Gold and Sean Cooncoon, the company's president. Gentlemen, how are you today? Excellent, just excited to get going here. Awesome. And as we go through what I always describe as the most boring part of the webinar, where I tell you what's going on, you can also look at Contango's fancy new branding. So I'll throw that up while I do this. A couple things I wanted to talk about today. There are a lot of questions that came in already. So that chat button at the bottom of your screen, we are in your interactive event. Please do ask questions during today's event. I will try to get to as many as I can, but I warn you, there is no way we will get to every question that was asked.

0:48 So if a question does not come up that you submitted over email or that you submit in chat, I will be sending it to the Contango Silver and Gold team so they'll be able to tackle it afterwards, but I am going to try to get to all the most popular ones or certainly the ones that seem biggest for everybody who's already submitted, who's going to submit them during the event. I'll also say today's event is being recorded and will be available for replay quite soon after the event. I'd say probably by 3 p.m. Eastern. It'll pop up both in your email if you're here in the room, but it'll also be on Six's YouTube page, so you can share it from there. But I think that's it for the boring stuff. So I do want to get right into the exciting stuff that we're here to talk about. That is, congratulations, both of you, getting this across the finish line and introducing the new brand. I know shareholders on both sides voted overwhelmingly in favor. Now the lawyers are through all the lawyer stuff that I'm sure was fun for you guys to read emails about. But now the Contango Silver and Gold is a done deal. What is the first thing investors should expect to hear from the combined company? And what is the 2026 game plan look like right from day 1? Rick, I'll throw it to you first.

1:46 Sure. Well, there's a lot going on and we're pleased to get this done. It's been a tough market, obviously. I'm sure we'll talk about that some more. I think the first sort of milestone thing that will come out here is an MRE, a mineral resource estimate on Kitsault. There's been on the order of 200,000 metres of drilling since the last MRE hit came out. So we're expecting to have that completed by the end of the quarter, that next quarter, June timeframe.

2:16 They're working on it now. And I think it'll be, it's an exciting milestone. And from there, we've got a 40,000m drill program planned for this year. And the mineral resource estimate will sort of help guide how much new exploration is being done, how much infill and expansion of the existing resource will be done. So it's an important document, not only from a milestone standpoint and investor standpoint, but also from a planning standpoint. So that'll be the first thing. And obviously we're drilling at Lucky Shot. So we'll have more results out from there. We're, you know, we continue to permit at Johnson Track. We're getting everything set up to start building the road there. So it's going to be a busy year.

3:03 I think we're going to spend on the order of $50M. So there's a lot going on. We had our first big all-lands on deck team meeting earlier this week and We're organized and we're set to go. Exciting. Sean, I'll get you in there for what people can expect from Katango Silver and Gold with the new management structure, with the new team just going forward into this year. Yeah, look, listen, I think for the investor, you know, what they have now is they have a new go-to name in the precious metals arena, you know, for investors that care about safety, security, that celebrate grade.

3:44 You know, look, the last, you know, 15, 16 years in the precious metals arena has been very, very difficult. Up until just the last 6-months or so, it's been a very depressed environment. For those who have survived and thrived, Contango and Dolly Varden were the exception in the industry. The strong survive and thrive now that the market's turned and projects are becoming very, very economic. So, what investors have to look forward to is a new entry, a company that has the ambition to become a mid-tier producer focused on precious metals in North America. I think what's unique about this company is, you know, in addition to having, you know, Moncho is a very special project.

4:33 It's one of the highest-grade open-pit Gold mines on the planet and it's located in safe Alaska. And then you've got Lucky Shot, there's a new discovery that was made and announced in February and an ongoing drilling there. And that's a project that's permitted, high-grade and could be back in production very, very soon, as early as 2028. So, you've got the Moncho production that's going to have a record year next year. The company is well funded. We're doing boring but important work at Johnson Track. And then from a growth perspective, what excites me is, as Rick said, we're spending about $50M on enhancing this portfolio and a lot of that is going into exploration.

5:23 And if you look back at the company's history, going back 5 or 6 years, we've been up there in the top 10 drill results in the industry in both Silver and Gold. So, having a, call it a 50,000m exploration budget across the portfolio, it's going to generate a lot of those types of results that's garnered that growth. So, it's exciting. I think we really are going to attract the investor who celebrates good balance sheet, strong cash flow, that's the differentiator. You've got a sea of juniors that don't have the funding to advance. They're relying on share issuances and dilution. So, we've got the cash flow, we've got the treasury, we've got the pipeline and the growth. So, what I'm really excited about, my skill set coming into this is marketing.

6:17 I've been marketing companies, I've raised billions of dollars for companies in the last couple of decades. I work with one of the most famous and legendary mining finance peers on the planet, Frank Giustra, and I've learned from him over the last

6:31 4 years. So what I'm excited about is Contango moving into the Fiori office, being one of the foundational companies, the largest market capcos here, and working with Rick and his team and Mike Clark to share the value proposition. And again, I just think we're in an environment here, I don't think we've ever been in a time in history where you've got the government at the federal level in the US, at the federal level with the Carney administration. We've got projects, I could speak on the Canadian side of the border here. This is the most important mining jurisdiction in Canada, from the density of mines, from the infrastructure, from First Nations and Rick's experience, the track record, it's really exciting. So looking forward to hit the road here in the first quarter and share that message.

7:23 Awesome. Appreciate it. I do love the perspective, the grit it took to get through the last couple years. People forget I didn't see a single smile at Beaver Creek for 4 years. People forget how tough it was to get through some of these. But there is a question I want to ask, because this is on everybody's mind. It's already come up in the chat. I know people ask about it. I want to zoom out and talk about the market and the stock price for a second, because obviously people do ask questions. Gold pulled back from high as well over $5,000 to today. Last I checked, just under

7:47 $4,400. Silver corrected from all the way in the $100 and teens down to today, under $70. I know a lot of this, we don't have an end Middle Eastern wars button as much as we'd like to, but I'd love to ask, and Rick, I can start with you here. What advice can you give for investors relative to Contango Silver and Gold's future about the market? Yeah, look, I've always said Gold is an emotional metal and I think Silver in that vein, silver is a drama queen. It's just more volatile. It has a tendency, it identifies itself, it has a catastrophe. It's like, I don't know if I'm an industrial metal, I don't know if I'm precious. So that's just the environment we're in. And something like the Iran war happens, everybody goes to the dollar.

8:42 That's where the big money goes, the index money goes. Okay, I'm not sure what's going on. I'm not sure how this is going to affect my investment portfolio. I'm just going to go to the dollar. And so the dollar strengthens, the metals retreat. And it's been dramatic. I mean, you know, the The metals are down. I think gold is down 20 plus percent. Silver is down. If you want to take the peak to trough, it's down almost 50 percent. So, yeah, it's been dramatic.

9:13 When Agnico Eagle and Newmont are all down 30 percent, of course we're going to be down. And yeah, it's a tough environment to get a merger done in, just not because the work's the same, but watching your share price go down, you're like, okay, this isn't fun. But what you have to do is look at the long term. What are we building here? Why are you investing in gold? You're investing in gold for the future. You're investing in silver for the future, not for today. And that's the company we're building is a company that's looking forward. And I mean, that's exactly what Contango means. You know, that's the future, the Delta between the present price and the future price. And so we're building a company for the future.

9:59 We've got a great portfolio. We've got cash flow. We've got lots of, we're starting with lots of cash. We've got US$100M in the bank over, and we're generating on average US$100M of free cash flow from Moncho. So we've worked our way through the hedge book. We've paid off most of our debt. So we're poised for growth. And the Gold and Silver markets are going to do what they're going to do. We have 0 control over what's happening in the Middle East. What we can control is our budgets and we can spend money prudently and make sure that we're investing that money to get a return for shareholders

10:37 in the future. I appreciate it, Sean. I will throw it to you for your perspective on just current markets and the share price change. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think, you know, I like to be solution oriented, right, and learn from the past. If you go back to 2 recent crises, you know, 2020, 2008, in both instances, gold sold off, you know, it initially sold off. You go back to 2008, it was $1,000, it went to $680. And we're seeing the same thing happen here, as Rick said, you know, in a time of crisis, you go to things that you can sell, that you have liquidity. We're in a world right now where there's record debt levels, the cost of carrying, you know, they've got economic slowdowns. So gold is one of the few liquid assets that you can go to and get liquidity during a time of crisis.

11:28 And so, you know, what I focus on though, Romeo, is you look at Moncho. That was built when gold was sub $2,000 an ounce, right? It was built when you're really modeling, you know, 14 $1,500 gold environment. And if you think about the all in sustaining cost, about the life of mine, whether Gold is $3,000,

11:54 $4,000, $4,500, $5,000, it's a very, very profitable operation. And I think one thing that I've learned as Rick, Rick and I have known each other for a while, but we've really got to know each other well the last 6 months. And he's reminded me something that's resonated throughout my entire career. Greatest King, you know, and our whole our whole differentiator here, in addition to the cash flow and the location, is the grade. We've got some of the highest grade gold and silver projects anywhere on the planet. So I think for the investor, and I know for myself, successful precious metals investors are contrarians. You've got to buy when you're scared, right? If you look at this opportunity right now, the company was valued at twice what it is today, just 2 months ago. Now what's changed?

12:47 What's changed is that certainty of the merger is out of the way. And if you study mergers, you know, you look at Equinox Caliber's most recent example, you know, they underperformed as they were merging. As soon as they completed their merger, they were revalued. So I think that's the opportunity here. And I think the investors should take advantage of that. Awesome. Appreciate it. It's important for people to remember, have a longer memory with Gold price. I remember, Rick, we were in a conversation 2 years ago and somebody whispered $2,400 and it made the room go silent. It's a scarily high number as the times do change. But I do want to talk about Mancho and Rick, I'll throw this one to you because I know DECK on your website right now modeled Mancho economics at 3200 Gold. So even after the pullback we've seen, we're still sitting at 4,375 as of today or 4,380 somewhere in there. That's still a pretty big windfall above the base case. So how does that change the math for Manshaw on both life of mine, free cash flow, and does it accelerate any development timelines for that kind of growing arsenal of strong contango projects that you have?

13:48 Yes, it really just underpins the cash flow. This year's, our guidance, this has always been the low year production for Moncho and the highest cost because we're transitioning from the North pit to the South pit. So there's a lot of pre-stripping and stripping to do to get down to the ore at the South pit. So we're guiding 45,000oz of Gold equivalent.

14:11 It is mostly Gold. And at a cost of 1900 to 2000. So relatively high cost in the overall mine life. We get the benefit of that next year because we're guiding 75,000oz to 80,000oz of production at $1,300, $1,400 cash, all in sustaining costs. So on average, it's going to average 60,000oz, like we've always said and always guided. And on average, well, next year, the cash flows are going to be ridiculous. They're going to be a couple of hundred million dollars at today's Gold prices. So bottom line, we're going to be, you know, the Moncho operation is managed and operated by Kinross. Large company. They're going to remain conservative on their assumptions. That's good for us. That makes that keeps us on a straight and narrow, so to speak.

15:00 We're not going to be talking wild stuff. But it's a constant, nice cashflow. And so this year, I think we're about $50 million of free cashflow at the guidance that we're giving. I think you'll see our website updated here shortly. And I think we're using 3,700 now for

15:18 our guidance in terms of free cashflow in our base case, it's gone from 3,200 now up to 3,700. And so, yeah, I mean, it's just, it's unusual in the business to have that sort of nice cash flow generating machine. And we're gonna spend about $50 million in exploration on all the projects this year. And so we're gonna make about $50 million from Moncho and we've got over $100 million in the bank. So This is a well-capitalized

15:49 company and we're going to spend our money. We're not going to be foolish about this. We're going to be very disciplined in how we spend our money. We do want to advance the projects and so we have a very specific plan to execute. But I'm confident we can execute because we've got the team to do that. And we had our first organizational, all hands on deck organizational meeting earlier this week. And I think everybody's just like raring to go. So exciting times. That's great. Like I always say, everybody loves it. Mike Clark gets a check. It's always good news day for everybody. Sean, I'll ask you a question. And I only ask this because there are some new folks in the room. They're new to both stories because got the advantage of already knowing an overwhelming number of Deliveroo and shareholders agree with the opinion you're about to give. But I'm curious for those who are in the room, walk us through why merging into a producing company was the right path versus continuing to develop Kitsalt as a standalone. What does this platform, Rick just talked about, give you that you didn't have on your own?

16:47 Well, I moved Olivarn into the Fiore office about 4 years ago. And working alongside Frank Giustra, I got to know something that Frank describes as the buy and build strategy. And it's a strategy where you diversify into multi-assets.

17:07 You're not just focused on 1 asset company. And it's a strategy that's worked for entrepreneurs from Pierre Lassonde to Ross Beattie to Robert Friedland to Frank Giustra. And so, as much as I believe in the Kitsault Valley, it's a district, you know, we have 100,000 hectares. We have 5 past producing high-grade silver mines, you know, richest silver mine in the British Empire, Canada's third largest silver producer. It's the number 1 jurisdiction in Canada. Getting exposure to neighboring Alaska, the cash flow, the pipeline, but I think what put it over the line for me is the team. And it was Rick, it was Rick, it was Mike, it was Bonnie, it was, you know, and that expertise, like, you know, if you go back to 2020, you know, we were in a lockdown, we were in a pandemic. If you go back and study Moncho, that's exactly when the feasibility came out and I think it was 2021.

18:08 And in that environment, a very difficult, challenging environment where you had massive inflation, a lot of uncertainty, within a 2 and a half year period, they

18:20 were producing. In 2024, I think there was 42,000 ounces of production. So to be able to navigate that, and Contango is one example of Rick's expertise. I can look at Trilogy, NovaGold. And so partnering with an experience management team that could take the Kitsault Valley, which our group of explorers have done a phenomenal job growing, expanding, I brought the capital, We've done a number of M&A transactions that were wildly accretive, but be able to now develop, permit, turn back into production. That's a skill set that we welcome from the Contango side. Amazing. Appreciate that answer. Rick, I'm going to zoom in on Johnson Tract for a second. I know we brought up a couple of times, I just want to really get into that project. I know the initial assessment came out in May, that post-tax MPV, $224M, 30% IRR. I was using $2200 Gold, a fantastical number we haven't heard in a long time. Gold has today doubled that number at $4,400. And the sensitivity analysis barely even covers it. It doesn't even get to those numbers. So can you paint the picture of what Johnson Contract Economics actually look like in, we'll call it, today's price environment?

19:29 Yes. Well, Actually, I think technically we can't talk about it because it's not in our SK1300. We were able to convince our QPs that we should put a $4,000 Gold price in there.

19:45 So According to the security records, I'm not supposed to talk about a bigger number, but yeah, that was, you know, Siboli back then being wildly optimistic that we put a $4,000 number in there. The NPD of the project is well over $600 million. What I really like about, doesn't matter whether it's a $3,000, $4,000 or $2,200 Gold price, it's got a one-year payback, which is unheard of in our business. And so, this is a beautiful ore body. Average is 40m wide, over 9g per tonne Gold equivalent. It's polymetallic. That's where we really see the synergies with the Kitsault Valley ores because they're sulfide polymetallic.

20:28 They're silver biased. The Johnson track is more of a Gold rich polymetallic deposit, but they're going to be processed by the same kind of mill. And so that's where we really saw the big synergies there. And that's where we can see our growth profile from Moncho, at Lucky Shot, 50,000oz, at Johnson track and Kitsault, and they're producing over 100,000oz of Gold and 5-10Moz of Silver. So it's a hell of a portfolio. And right now we're permitting Johnson Track. We're part of the FAS41 dashboard. We finally have an administration that not only recognizes that metals are critical and that we have a whole class of metals called critical metals now.

21:18 But they're actively, proactively saying, OK, we want mining. We're going to help get more mines permitted. And that's the objective of FAST-41.

21:29 FAST-41 started under Obama. It was Fix America's Circus Transportation Act. So it's not something invented by the Trump administration, but the Trump administration sees it as a priority to get more mines, more mines producing more metal. So yeah, it's great to have both a state and a federal government now solidly behind mining projects. I appreciate that. And Sean, I'm going to jump to you for a Kitsilt update. I know the Wolfvane keeps delivering pretty crazy numbers. 1,422g for 10 Silver over 21m, with 10,700g for 10 over a metre in the latest step out holes. You got an updated resource coming Q2 2026, I believe. What should investors be expecting? There's a lot of them in the room today from that update. And how will that feed into the path towards PEA?

22:16 Yeah, I think one thing I want to start with is this is just a point in time, right? Like this resource, it's going to be, I think, a significant improvement in growth on the Silver side. You know, The guidance I've given previously was a 50% increase in terms of the Silver ounces. On the Gold side, I think you're going to see about a 50% conversion up at homestake. So, really, the way to look at the project is you have 2 centres of gravity. You've got the Silver-centric South, which is the Torbert horizon, which makes up those past producing mines. And then you've got the Gold-rich North. And in the Gold-rich North,

22:56 80% of the resource was inferred. And the biggest risk or challenge a resource investor has is conversion. And I think what we saw with the drill results that we put out the last few years is we were actually surprised to the upside in terms of the grade and the consistency of the veins. We had identified a very wide, high-grade plunge to the ore body at both Homestake Main and what we call Homestake Silver. And so I think what you'll see here is a 50% increase in the number of Silver ounces, a 50% conversion on those inferred to indicated ounces. And as we move categories there, we're currently sitting on about a 4.5g inferred resource, whereas the indicated resource is over 7g.

23:46 So, I think you're going to see that grade, about a 50% increase to that grade as well. So, all in all, I think it's going to be a very strong resource upgrade.

23:57 But the key is, we've maybe explored 2% of the property and you know, Rick's described some of those silver deposits as a string of pearls and the real opportunity on the project is there's about a 5 kilometer gap in between the Wolfine and Homestake Silver. And I suspect, you know, it's a structurally controlled corridor. We could fit another 3 major deposits. And so, you know, right now the company, you know, the project contains about 64 million ounces of silver in all categories, 1 million ounces of gold That will be upgraded with the 200,000m of drilling we've done, but by no means is it going to be the be all and end all of the project. And I think with the 40,000m of drilling that we've got, that's going to kick off here in the spring.

24:48 We're going to see, some of that will

24:50 be growth oriented and we'll be looking, we had some big results last year where we drilled on the other side of faults. We saw mineralisation 20km away from known resources. We've got a big land package and we're investing a lot of dollars into that continued growth. Awesome. That's an exciting 5km. So that's fun to see what comes next. Rick, one thing I want to ask you, because I know there's a lot of DALI shareholders in the room and also new people to the story. The direct ship or model rocks in a box, as I know you like to say, central to a lot of what Contango does. I heard somebody call you DSO Rick at P-DEC this year, which I thought was very funny. But it's not something I think a lot of us are familiar with. So if you could break down for folks in the room, why shipping origin existing mill is a game changer for permitting timelines, CapEx, environmental footprint, et cetera.

25:39 Yeah, I mean, it is a little different approach and it's not that it hasn't been done before. It certainly has and the Australians, they're certainly,

25:48 they're probably the kings and queens of the DSO model and central hub and spoke, central milling concept. We just happened to be able to take advantage of it with Moncho because It was high grade and we looked at the fact, well, we could build our own mill and tailings facility, but it would cost a lot of money. And for a junior company raising, you know, raising 5 or $600 million to build a new mill, 1, it's a lot of capital, but 2, it's a lot of time. And, you know, that was on curve just smacks you right in the face again, because you've got to do the boring stuff to get to be able to build a mill and a tailings facility. You've got to collect, you've got to do all the engineering work, you've got to do all the permitting work.

26:34 And that's a boring time for investors. And so, you know, you're on that slump side of the Lassonde curve. So,

26:42 the GSO model allows you to skip that. And it does require that you have grade because you're the offset is you're not going to spend that capital and you're Not going to spend that time Permitting and all that but you you have to transport your oars so the oars got to be good enough grade to be able to pay for the truck ride or the barge barge ride and To me the most important part of it the capital is a big part of it. You have a much smaller environmental footprint. So what you're permitting can be done in a reasonable amount of time. And We've demonstrated that with Moncho. We got that permitted in start to finish 18-months. And I challenge any other mining project to say that, hand over heart, honestly, I got my project permitted in 18-months.

27:31 We're doing that with Moncho. We're about ready to get our state permits and we'll be able to go underground. We'll get the road done this year and we'll be able to go underground and start drilling once we get that work done next year. So it's a different approach. It does require discipline in going after high grades that are close to existing infrastructure. So there's not a bunch of other infrastructure to permit. And we do find that trying to do all these things, developing a mine on private land is by far easier than trying to do it on public lands, specifically federal lands. And until there's a federal directive

28:17 at permitting reform, which has to include a court reform aspect to it. Until that happens, and there's movement on that, so I'm optimistic. The Speed Act is passed Congress, and the Senate's working on their version. So when that happens, we can, you know, we'll relook at federal lands. But until then, we like working on state lands and in private lands. But that's the that's really the essence. You're you're kind of it affords you to to be able to skip a few important steps from a capital side and from a permitting timeline side. No, it's great. No, I appreciate it. Like I said, I know there's a lot of people in the room unfamiliar with it, so I think it's helpful. But I do want to scroll down the map from Alaska to the Golden Triangle for a second. Sean, I'll throw it to you for this one. I know the region's seen $5 billion in M&A over the past couple of years with Newmont, Seabridge, Skeena, all in the area. And I know that even this pullback with $67 to $70 silver, The economics on

29:16 high-grade silver deposits look way different than 2 years ago. How do you see Kitsil Valley fitting into that district? And then there's a question I'll throw to both of you. Is the combined company now an acquisition target itself? But Sean, I'll start with you. Okay. The way I see our part of the Golden Triangle, where we've established a land position that does rival Newmont in terms of size and in terms of the density of the past producing mines that are under there. Rumi, are you still with me?

29:48 I am, yep. OK, no, I just looked like this. Green and froze for a second. But really, we're in the sub-basin of the Golden Triangle. And it's an area that, despite having some of the best infrastructure in the Golden Triangle, it's seen the least amount of exploration. So it's really the future of the Golden Triangle as I see it. And what's interesting about it is in the centre of the Golden Triangle, it's a Gold-centric region, whereas the North is more Copper-Gold, and in the South you've got the Silver and the Gold. So, you know, look, we're in an environment right now where, I'll just talk about Silver and Silver producers, you know, if you assume a $50 Silver price and the average all-in sustaining cost of about $25,

30:43 for every million ounce you mine, that's $25M of free cash flow. So as we look at the Kitsil Valley and we look at 5Moz, 6Moz of Silver production, it's going to be a very, very profitable mine moving forward. Awesome. I appreciate that. And Rick, I'll throw it to you if you think the combined company has become itself an acquisition target in the region. Yeah, I mean, look, you can never get too wound up about that. But look, we're building a company that's going to generate a lot of free cash flow. So I'd say, yeah, that's probably a target for a bunch of people. But we're going to focus on executing our plan. And our plan is to grow from our current 60,000oz of average annual production to 200,000oz of gold and somewhere between 5 and 10 million ounces of silver. And that's there's a lot of work to do, but we have the money, we have the team.

31:45 And I think we have the support of the governments, which is really important as we, you know, this is the first time I can remember in a long time that we actually had support of governments and a recognition that metals are important. They're critical now.

32:02 And Silver is one of the top ones on that list in terms of the big metals. So you have all the specialty metals that get all the airtime, the rare earths and what have you. They're more niche markets.

32:17 But Silver and even Gold itself, I mean, with all this investment going into AI and data centres and battery storage and all those, those take a lot of Gold and Silver as well. And specifically Silver, you know, the solid-state battery is another, you know, estimated to be another 100Moz of new demand on Silver. So, we're just in a great spot, I think. I'm really excited about where we are. Yeah, the pullbacks is a pain, it's painful to watch, but we're in for the longterm here. Awesome. And my final run of individual project questions, and I'll zoom out a little bit, and then I promise I will get time to get to some of the questions that were sent in over email in advance. I do want to talk about Lucky Shot.

33:04 I know it's already fully permitted for mining. Rick, what gives you the confidence, the scale at Lucky Shot? And what's the realistic timeline from drilling into production? Yes, I'll answer those in reverse. Our plan is to get the drilling done over the course of the remainder of this year. It will probably move into the early part of next year, but I think by Q1 we should be mostly wrapped up with the drilling. And then objective, outline about 400,000oz to 500,000oz of resource, and then convert, have a subset of that, that we get converted to reserve status. And we're shooting for a quarter million ounces that can produce 50,000 ounces a year. The fact that this district, and it is a whole district, I mean, we focus on just the sort of the Lucky Shot and Coleman's part of the vein structure there, but there's 50 other prospects that all have some workings on them. So there's a lot of Gold in the district.

34:07 You produce a lot of Plaster Gold or Luthiel Gold, which I just view as a giant soil anomaly. And the fact that we found a new vein We announced a little over a month ago KM vein In a completely different orientation from the lucky shot vein structure. In fact at right angles to the lucky shot vein structure This is the first time that it's been, it was a new discovery. The folks who mined here back in the late 20s to the 40s, they didn't see any veins like that. They never described any veins like that. And it's twice the grade of the Lucky Shot vein. So we're very excited. That's a, you know, everybody loves discovery and we've got to get the tunnel underneath it now. And we're planning to get the miners back in mid-May, extend the West Drift so we can get underneath the vein because we set the West drift up to drill the Lucky Shot vein, which is at right angles to the KM vein.

35:07 So we're going to outsmart this Mother Nature here and just go underneath it and get some more drilling done. And that may well change our plans in terms of where we focus. I mean, if we're drilling 30 grams per ton, you know, rather than 10 to 15 over at Lucky Shot, and guess what? We're going to adjust the plan. And the fact that it's literally right there, you can see the vein, it can take you underground and you can put your hand on it. And, you know, we just, that's exciting in this. So I'm excited about the, you know, what this, the implications of what this vein orientation means, the fact that it is high grade, and the fact that we have a whole district to explore. So as we've, you know, I think both Sean and I have just emphasized the same thing that we don't have 5 deposits, or sorry, 4 deposits. We have 5 districts.

35:54 We're focused on the long-term here. Again, just keep remembering what the contango means. It's the future price. And that's what we're focused on is developing projects for the future and adding shareholder value in the future. Awesome. Zooming out now, done with all the individual project questions. Zooming out, even after this pullback, Combined Company is a pro forma market cap approaching $1Bn Canadian. It's going to be dual listed on the NYSE American, targeting the TSX. You're already in the GDXJ, the SILJ and the Russell. Sean, I'll throw this to you. How important is that institutional visibility right now? And with precious metals pulling back, is this an entry point for funds? How are institutions thinking about this period? So it's a good question. I think it's everything in the world we live in today where more money is passively managed than actively managed.

36:45 I think it's very, very crucial to get into the indexes and the ETFs. Most investors can finally now buy us. We've gotten large enough. We've got a liquid enough. We're going to be on the prime North American exchanges. TXX, Big Board, NYC American. So that is everything. Liquidity is the oxygen of capital markets. And what we've seen from the time we proposed the merger to completion of merger is our liquidity profiles increased significantly. So it's very, very important. Look, I've always been taught that you make your money on the buy, not the sell. And I think that what you need to focus on right now during this correction, as Gold is below the 50-day moving average, right, As we continue to go through this correction, this is a buying opportunity, right? This company is trading at half the value it was just 2 months ago.

37:43 And again, I just think the discrepancy between the price of the metals and the price of the mining equities has never been further apart and I think the big opportunity for the investor here and if you study history this happens every cycle you know first you have the gold price move, right, and then you have the large producers move and then that trickle down comes down. And I think what I'm most excited about, about 2026, is going out and being able to share a company that's now cash flowing. But I think, or what we are now representing, what the Contango shareholder has been now exposed to is a longer profile, a longer mine life, right? That five-year business is now a 20-year business and Verdali Vard and the uncertainty around, well, now what? When are you going to start producing? Well, we are. We are. And we have the cash flow to get the Silver off the hill. So I think for me, it's having 2 sides to the story, production and growth. It's very powerful.

38:54 Great. Rick, I know we already talked about market near the beginning of this, but I do want to lean on your decades of experience in markets just for a second and indulge me in some crystal ball gazing about the gold price. I'm just curious, your perspective, this most recent correction, is it a healthy one in an ongoing bull market? Is it just related to the war? Should investors be concerned? And then as a side question to that, how does a company like Contango Silver and Gold differ than a pure explorer in a volatile metals market? Like if it's going to be jumping up and down, how does a company like Contango fare comparatively? Yeah, look, I mean, you know, if you average the correction in silver and gold, it's a 30% correction. That would be described as a very healthy correction. I mean, gold and silver both moved very fast, as we've talked about. Silver always is more volatile and has more drama, but they both moved. It's a healthy correction.

39:48 Nothing fundamental has changed in the gold space and in the silver space in terms of the appetite for investors in the metals. And You're still seeing the central banks buying, you're still seeing a deficit of Silver from what's needed to build all the things that Silver is actually used for. Silver is that, both an industrial and a precious metal. And so nothing fundamental has changed there. So I think, again, if you've got to take a longer term view, I think if you're investing in exploration and in mining, you're investing for the future because that's where the return comes. And that's where, you know, if you take the dollars you're spending on exploration and if they're wisely invested and you get additional production and additional cash flow, that's the business model where you build wealth.

40:49 And so the fact that we have the cash flow and we have the goods, we have the gold and the silver and we're in a safe jurisdiction where they're not, you're not gonna wake up tomorrow and your assets gonna be nationalized or there's gonna be bombs dropping on your head. We're in North America, Alaska, BC, got supportive governments. So all these things I think are very much lined up for our success. We've got the team, we've got the dollars to do it. For the junior explorer, it's a tougher sell. You are at the whim of the market. And if the timing had worked out that you need to raise money now to get a good drill program going this summer.

41:36 Well, you've just diluted the crap out of your shareholders. Yeah, I don't like seeing the share price down in the 17, $18 level, but I don't have to raise money now. And we're not. So we're pleased with where we are and I think we're just going to keep focused on the future and adding value for shareholders. Awesome. That is all my questions. Everybody who's written a question, thank you for indulging me. I'm getting into yours now, I promise. I'm going to go through some of the ones that came in over email first. And then I'll get into some of the ones that are caught in the chat. And where possible, I'll combine them. There's 1 straight out the gate asking about fuel prices. Because obviously, that's on, I think, most people's mind, to some degree, as oil prices do increase. The question basically is, when would you expect high fuel prices to start impacting Contango's revenue?

42:24 Do you have an estimate on what that impact will be? And as a side question, are electric trucks being considered as an option in the DSO process? Yes, short answer is for Moncho. No, we've got the fleet that is going to complete the delivery of the ore to the Fort Knox mill. So yes, we're not going to look at electric trucks. So it's a huge amount of capital. And in fact is they don't exist right now. So that's a, it's an Elon Musk dream. And I'm sure someday Elon will make them. But now for, in terms of just, you know, solid diesel prices, there's a, we do tendency, we have a tendency to buy fuel sort of a year ahead of time here in Alaska.

43:11 And so, because all of our fuel comes out of Seattle, and I'm talking about diesel fuel. So I don't expect us to have any significant increases right away, but I think over, you know, that the fuel prices, you know, remain in this $100 sort of barrel oil price environment. We will see that increase sort of run through, I'd say the latter half of the year, and obviously if it continues in the next year. But it's not immediate, because we've already got our fuel already stored. Now, And just to, I guess, to frame it, the transportation portion of our, of our all in sustaining costs is roughly a third. And roughly a third of that is related to fuel. The other 2 thirds are the, you know, the capitalization of the truck and the driver and the cost related to that.

44:04 So it's not like a, it's not Mesa 1 ninth or 1 10th of our overall costs. So just to kind of keep it in perspective, it's a significant contributor for sure. And especially when you're transporting more and our whole DSL model relies on that. So it's something that we'll monitor and we'll give guidance when we have new numbers. Awesome, I appreciate it. Just cause there's a lot of questions in this arena, I'm just going to throw this out to you guys. Where can people buy you right now? Where will people be able to buy you in the future? And why pursue TSX over maintaining TSX-V and YSC? Let's just talk about tickers for a few minutes and where people can buy in what the strategy is for the future. Sean, do you want to take that?

44:51 Yeah. So you can buy us right now, CTGO in the US, you'll be able to buy us CTGO on the TSX. Now, why Big Board versus Venture? You know, there's more indexes, more institutions that are be able to buy a TSX Big Board stock than the venture stock. So it's been proven with case studies that liquidity goes up, your investor exposure and reach is increased significantly. So it's very, very simple. You just have to remember 1 symbol, CTGO, and whether you're investing in the US or Canada on the big boards CTGO.

45:37 Perfect. I appreciate that very much. Rick, one question I haven't heard in a very long time, but I'll throw it to you. It's about the bridge. Somebody wants to know if the Alaska Department of Transportation repaired bridges that had heavy load restrictions impacting Moncho's operations. Yeah, so short answer is yes. There's been, it was a lot of drama last year about that. It turned into a bit of a much ado about nothing story in that the reason this all came about was the federal government didn't approve the state transportation plan, which meant that the state then had to, you know, sort of delay their planned maintenance of the bridges. When the Trump administration came in to, was elected, that was one of the first things the Trump administration did is just say, no, no, boom, here's the dollars. This was a political attack on our governor, But so glad to have all that drama behind us. But short answer is the trucks are running as per schedule 24, 7,365.

46:43 And that was a painful political experience in my view. Oh, absolutely. And I will give congratulations to everybody who bought Contango during Bridgegate because you made out like an absolute bandit. So congratulations to that team. Somebody asked a question I've actually never encountered before, so I'm curious your perspective. They say Alaska is a known earthquake region. He wants to know, as an investor, how should he judge the impact of seismic events on underground mines? Yeah, that's actually a good question. And the short answer is, underground's actually one of the safer places to be if you're in a property maintained mine, because that's something you do on a daily basis is you look for hazards. And so short answer is you engineer for it. And Alaska definitely is a active seismic zone.

47:30 I'd say actually all of Western North America is an active seismic zone. So we enjoy it. And as odd as it might sound, underground in a well-maintained mine is a pretty good place to be. I appreciate it. I'm just curious. I think that's great. One question somebody asked is, are there any non-core assets of the combined company that you intend to dispose of, sell, etc.? Yes. I think that From the Dolly Varden side, the focus was on Kitsalt and the surrounding areas. I'd say no on the BC side. But in Alaska, we have a number of early-stage assets and we have discussed and thought about spinning those out because they're not likely to fit the DSO model.

48:19 So I'd say stay tuned for this space. We're doing some work on them this year and I'd say we're going to make a decision probably sometime this year as to whether they remain a core part of the portfolio or whether we look to do something else with them. But there's value there. They're good assets. They're all next to infrastructure. They so there are certain aspects of them that fit. But we've got a lot on our plate. So we might sort of high grade the portfolio a bit. Yep, no, you guys keep busy for sure. That's something I've always known about Katango. Sean, I'll throw this one to you because I'm glad I got both of you on the call for this question. Somebody wants to know if you can describe the management structure of the merge team. What's the relationship look like? Who's on it? How are decisions made? Somebody just wants to know how everything's going to go with the combined group.

49:06 That's a good question. One thing I would just want to add to the last point before we touch on that is, you know, having that disciplined approach and having the appropriate amount of cash on Treasury and cash flow to advance the 4 major assets. The other thing I want to say is there's an opportunity for Contango shareholders to get exposure, like depending on how we look to unlock that value of those earlier stage projects, we're now moving into a price environment that is supportive of exploration. So I think there's a way for us to monetize to the benefit of the existing Contango shareholder that portfolio. So I think that's something to look at in the future. In terms of management, look, the nice thing here, just like whether it's the shareholders, the cross-pollination of skill sets, Look, I'm a marketer, right? I'm a marketer, you know, and, you know, so in terms of the structure, you know, Rick is the CEO, and the way I look at all these companies, and this is something that a lot of investors, a lot of management teams don't appreciate, The top of the pyramid is the shareholder.

50:17 Sure. That's who really calls the shots. Then you've got the board of directors and then you've got the CEO who reports to the board and is working for the board of directors. And so, you know, myself, Rick and Mike Clark, you know, we will huddle up and we will make decisions as a group, but Rick is our CEO, but governed by the board and working for the shareholders. And then, and it's really, when we had our all hands on deck meeting, Rick made an incredible point, which is the real value drivers of the company is the people you don't see on this call. It is people that's the site in the offices. That's where the magic happens. And we've got one, We've got a lean team, but we've got an incredible organization that is supporting us.

51:06 And they really are the ones that are driving the value and creating the real magic. Awesome. I just want to add in just on the board. Well, I'd say, I'll use that term, hydrated again. We've got a really solid board that is very mining focused. As you know, Contango came from an oil and gas background. And again, it's been great. It's very supportive board members and that know a lot about resource development. But I think we've now kind of focused the board on a board that knows mining and understands what a mining company is and how do we grow it. So I'm really pleased with the board. We're actually meeting next week and with the entire team, board included. So yeah, we're excited to get the whole team together and move forward on executing the plan here.

52:05 Great. Sean, I got a marketing question for you from the chat. Somebody says, Noah, before you used the word pure silver play to describe Dolly Varden And he's happy with the merger. He just wants to know what the base message you're gonna be using to promote Contango is now. Yeah, no, it's a great question. You know, for me, from my perspective, I look at the great precious metals companies that have stood the test of time. And, you know, they're really producing, you know, multiple metals. They're polymetallic, right? And I think what we offer the silver investor is we offer them a lot of high-grade primary safe jurisdiction silver, which is extremely rare. It's what made the Kitsault Valley project a pure, a true unicorn project. You know, having primary silver is rare, having it in a safe jurisdiction is even rarer.

52:59 But if you look at some of our peers, and you take Hecla, you take Coor, First Majestic, they're producing other metals, they're producing a lot of gold. So in terms of marketing, I think the key here is grade, jurisdiction, and Silver and Gold. Perfect. I appreciate that. A couple of quick questions. P. Sexton asked about 40 minutes ago, what's ASIC right now for Gold? I might as well give them an NGO confirmed number, But then what's anticipated ASIC for Silver at Kitsil? Yeah, probably too early to put any numbers in Kitsil. So let's get the MRV out and then we'll execute the plan to deal with the 40,000m of drawing.

53:44 And by the end of 2026, and in early 2027, we're going to be focused on getting a preliminary economic assessment or initial assessment done. That'll give guidance on the plan to turn, as Sean says, metal in the mountain into metal that we can market and sell. So and then on Moncho, this year's guidance, we're guiding 40,000oz to 45,000oz of Gold production. I think we'll be at the higher end. And our costs are in the 19 to $2,000, all in sustaining costs in the 19 to $2,000 range. And in terms of next year, guidance is 75 to 80,000 ounces of Gold and 13 to $1,400 costs, all in sustaining costs.

54:37 So again, the reason for the lower production and higher costs this year is the equipment, the mining equipment is focused on the transition from North Pit to South Pit, lots of pre-stripping going on at South Pit. So we have a relatively low production and high cost. We get the benefit of that in 2027 and 2028, where we'll have much higher production and much lower cost. Awesome, I appreciate that very much. Now I know somebody asked, sitting from the chat, said Sean they appreciate your comments on rebalancing but I'm going to throw this question to both of you but I will start with you Sean. What do you think is the catalyst from here that drives the rebalancing for Contango? I'd just love to hear what you're thinking. Well, again, I talked about some of the case studies of other mergers in the past.

55:25 And I think for some investors, we've had some turnover right there were some investors on the dolly side that were here for a silver explorer You know silver speculation for a contango shareholders I think for some of them, you know have getting another development stage project, you know, they're there for the production. So as we've turned over those shareholders throughout this time from proposed merger to completed merger, now we're gonna go out and build a new shareholder base. And a shareholder base that wants to get exposure to high grade, safe jurisdiction, silver and gold. And so for me, in addition to things like a new discovery at Lucky Shot in the KM vein, good operational numbers, the exploration drilling in the Kitsil Valley, there's just an opportunity here. The market needs this name. There's a vacuum in the mid-tier space. There's a void and that void has been built up because we went through a 15-year depression in the mining space. And now that we're, you know, Rick and I were gathering assets during a depression.

56:31 You know, I look back at the high gold acquisition and the cost of bringing Johnson Track into the company. It was an incredible accretive transaction. And I think this transaction is gonna age in the same manner as we look out into the future. So the real opportunity here is just to educate the precious metals public that we've got a new name. You know, this is like putting yourself in a time machine and investing in a claw, you know, 5 years ago, right? We've got a five-year plan that's going to deliver 200,000 ounces of Gold production. And then we'll be turning that corner and looking at 6, 7, 8 million ounces of Silver production to complement it. It's an absolute rocket ship. So really the key here is going out and sharing that as we explore, as we develop and we continue to produce.

57:24 I'll just add that we have a marketing meeting on Friday, and It's a busy schedule. We're going to be road warriors on an airplane. We want to do a lot of marketing. We want to get this story out. That's great. I hope you get used to the ice cold breeze that they serve on planes. It's fun after a time. You get used to it. But gentlemen, I know we're coming to the end of the hour. I'd love to give you just each one last minute to close off each on what you're most excited about for this year. I know we've gone over 1 million things that are keeping everybody on their toes. But Sean, I'll start with you and Rick closes off. Just what are you most jazzed about? What's keeping you up with excitement for 2026 Contango Silver and Gold? Well, again, for me, I've been out there pounding the pavement for the last 6 years and bringing in a lot of incredible shareholders to what was a primary silver name.

58:21 And what I now get to do is introduce that network that I've been building for the last 2 decades into some very, very unique special assets in Alaska. And, you know, combined company that really is a platform, you know, when I look out, you know, this, this is a company that could be around for the next century, in terms of these districts, this potential, you know, we're just scratching the surface. So there's, if I were to sum it up, it's exploration, it's development, it's production, it's and it again, it's the uniqueness of having all of that in Northwest British Columbia, and in Alaska. So I'm again, we got we've got a very, very busy calendar. I'm just grateful that I'm not doing it alone, that I've got a team that I'm working with because we've got different team members in different cities at the same time. And it's going to be busy, it's going to be fun and we're finally in a market that's starting to pay us for this, right? These projects are now incredibly profitable, more profitable than I ever dreamed of it, you know, and I'm just glad that Rick and I were out there actively acquiring the portfolio, advancing it, exploring, developing.

59:37 And now we've hit it, I think, at the right time in the cycle. Awesome. It's payoff time. And Rick, I'll leave it to you for a final word. Yeah. I mean, I'm an exploration geologist by background. That's my passion. That's what I love to do. So, when we've got north of 50,000 meters of drilling going on this summer, it's gonna be a hell of a lot of fun. Exploration's fun. Finding new high-grade veins at Lucky Shot, that's fun. There's just, it's the passion of exploration. And I've always loved the saying that without art, there's no science, and without science, there's no art. And that's exactly what our business is. And that art is part of that passion. You know, it's just, how do I build this? How do I create this? And creating that future for the company is, I think as Sean just outlined, We're incredibly fortunate. We're incredibly blessed with governments that support mining, finally, and with a team in the capital and in the goods, the 4 districts to explore.

1:00:47 Couldn't be more pleased with where we are as a company. Awesome. Appreciate it. And Marcel in the chat just increases holdings during the event. So thank you, Marcel. And with that note, Rick and Sean, thank you so much for letting me grill you and getting through all these questions. Everybody in the room, I know there's 5 or 6 questions I didn't get to. I'm going to make sure the teams get them so they can get back to you as soon as possible. But thank you everybody so much. There are so many of you in the room today. Thanks for taking time to spend with us. Rick and Sean, thank You