Contango Silver & Gold Inc. ($CTGO)
Earnings Call Transcript · May 5, 2026
Highlights from the call
In the Q1 2026 earnings call for Contango Silver & Gold Inc. (CTGO:US), management highlighted significant advancements in their drilling program at the Lucky Shot project, with high-grade mineralization being confirmed across multiple structures. Revenue for the quarter was reported at $6 million, with an EPS of $0.15, both inline with expectations. Management maintained their production guidance of 40,000 to 50,000 ounces annually, signaling confidence in the project's potential despite ongoing feasibility studies and geological assessments.
Main topics
- High-Grade Mineralization Confirmation: Management reported 'repeatable hits across multiple structures' at Lucky Shot, with assays showing up to 74 grams per tonne. This indicates a strong geological model and potential for resource expansion.
- Acquisition Financing Structure: The acquisition of Alaska Hard Rock was structured with $4 million in upfront cash and a $10 million promissory note at 5% interest. CFO Mike Clark stated, 'we think we can get Lucky Shot into production by 2028' to fund repayments.
- Resource Update and Geological Complexity: The identification of new structures, including the L1 and CK veins, is crucial for the upcoming resource update. David Larimer emphasized the importance of these findings, stating, 'this will be important because this is going to incorporate all this data into this continuity.'
- Guidance Maintenance: Management reiterated their production target of 40,000 to 50,000 ounces per year, maintaining confidence in their operational timeline despite the ongoing feasibility study.
- Underground Development Plans: The company plans to commence 800 meters of underground development, which is expected to enhance drilling capabilities and improve feasibility study inputs. This was described as a 'data generating platform' by CFO Mike Clark.
Key metrics mentioned
- Revenue: $6M (vs $6M est, inline)
- EPS: $0.15 (vs $0.15 est, inline)
- Production Guidance: 40,000 to 50,000 ounces (maintained guidance)
- Acquisition Cost: $61M (includes $4M cash and $10M note)
- Gold Price Assumption: $4,000 per ounce (used for NSR valuation)
- All-in Sustaining Cost: $2,000 or less (expected for Lucky Shot)
The developments at Contango Silver & Gold Inc. suggest a strong operational outlook driven by high-grade mineralization and strategic acquisitions. Investors should monitor the progress of the underground development and the upcoming feasibility study, as these will be critical in assessing the project's viability and potential for future growth.
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
Romeo Maione
Attendees[Audio Gap] The world you're logging in from. I'm joined today by Contango Silver and Gold CFO, Mike Clark; and VPX, Dave Larimer, to discuss this morning's release. Gentlemen, how are you today?
David Larimer
ExecutivesGreat. Thanks for having us from you. More and more and doing well.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesAwesome. Now the company's CEO, Director of Communications and President are on a whirlwind marketing tour, seemingly, I think, a different city every day from what I've gathered from Miami to Atlanta to Belgrade, I think Budapest today. But that means we're lucky enough to get to talk to Dave and Mike, unplugged and unsupervised. So I'm excited. I know there's quite a few of you in the room, so I'm looking forward to today's event. And here's how today is going to work. It is an interactive event. So I've got some questions for both executives based on this morning's news release, but this is interactive. So there's a chat button at the bottom of the screen. Please feel free to enter questions at any point during today's event. That being said, I'm going to try to keep it pretty tight and on topic today. But if you have questions, feel free to put them in. I'll make sure they get to the Contango Silver and Gold team. I just don't be too disappointed if I don't get to them because we're trying to keep it pretty on topic for today's event. The other thing I'll say is today's event is being recorded and will be available for replay probably around 4:00 p.m. Eastern, so not long after today's event ends. It will come right into the same link as you can feel free to share it. It will also be on 62 page. But okay, let me get straight into the geology.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesSo Mike, if you don't mind, I'm going to start with Dave straight off the bat. Because I know this batch from this morning loaded with high-grade hits. I saw 74 grams per tonne, over 0.5 meter on the 5 grams per tonne on the LNC 31 grams to another 1C interval. And these come on top of the 60 grams per tonne over 5.9 2 meters you announced back in March. So obviously, you're doing a lot of work. And as you stitch these new stations together along the West drift of Lucky shot, what's the read on how the system is actually behaving underground?
David Larimer
ExecutivesWell, definitely so let's start with geologists the fun stuff. So thanks for starting with me first. I think overall, for the for this, we're not dealing with random high-grade numbers. These are starting to pretty repeatable hits across multiple structures. It really does show the structural controlled system. And now we're starting to develop the continuity, the complexity, and it also shows us the ring to grow just in a lucky shot as itself. We're seeing these repeated high-grade mineralization across our multiple structures from our previous press release, into this one. And it shows that this is a structurally controlled, what I call a high-grade vein array. So we're not dealing with just a single kind of vein. We're dealing with an array kind of a swarm of being how they structurally kind of pull through the system there. I mean this is very good. I mean this is very good for us. This is an emerging picture. We'll start to develop the continuity as we start to understand the structural complexity. We'll probably talk a lot about structure today. But what this gives us is multiple opportunities to concentrate that high-grade goal. And having that West drift and being able to drill this first program through the West drift has been a huge value add for us. It helps turn these strong assays into a more higher geological model that we're going to start to force feed into our resources. We're completed drilling.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesOkay. Awesome. I appreciate that. It's certainly an exciting update. And I will get back to in a second, but I do want to just touch on the finance part, the math stuff for Mike. So if don't mind, I'm going to talk about the acquisition for a bit. Because I know the $61 million total mix of upfront cash, around $4 million due at closing bugle first and $10 million promissory note, carrying 5% interest. How did you come to that structure with Alaska had rock, Mike?
J. Clark
ExecutivesYes. No. So it's kind of 2 buckets is how I think about it. So you kind of got the real property, the equipment, the buildings, that value is approximately $6 million, and that's what we're paying cash for this year. The other value is on the 2% NSR. And so we structured that with the promissory note, and we ascribe a value of about $10 million to that. And so that promissory is kind of -- it's set up in a way that we think we can get that mine that like you shut in production by 2020, and we can use profits from the mine to basically fund those principal repayments.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesExciting. And I know a big part of this is obviously extinguishing that 2% NSR, I think should be one of the big headlines for a lot of the investors listening. With gold trading around about 4560 to 4,600 an ounce right now, can you give us a sense of what removing that royalty actually does for Lucky shots economics, both on a kind of per ounce basis, but also the life of the whole project.
David Larimer
ExecutivesYes. I guess I'll caution listeners that we still are working on a feasibility study. So what we use were basically internal estimates -- but -- and so when we approach this, we looked at to value the NSR way to look at a number of sensitivities, goal price, discount rates? What you think getting in production will be the life of mine. But when you -- if you just take a simple approach and assume $4,000 gold and our production target of 40,000 to 50,000 ounces a year, we think this NSR should have a value of $3 million to $4 million a year coming back to us as value. So if you -- on a 5-year mine life, that should have a value -- undiscounted value of $15 million to $20 million. If you double the mine life to 10 years, that number doubles. And so then just looking out on a per ounce basis, it's about $80 per ounce. So if we get this to where we expect, which we think all-in sustaining cost should be $2,000 or less. It's a meaningful reduction in our all-in sustaining costs. So that's kind of how we approach it and we think -- what we think the impact will be.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesAlso appreciate I always helpful to go through the math, even if it is from internal estimates at this point. Dave, I do want to get back into -- as you correctly guessed, we are going to talk about the structures today. So a good call. you've added 2 structures to the model that weren't there before. The L1 even and the newly designated CK vein. Just for investors in the room who aren't geologists, who I know it is a number of us, including myself, how big a deal is it to identify these things mid-program? And are they factoring into the resource update that you're targeting right now?
David Larimer
ExecutivesWell, it's definitely hugely important that we identified this bid program. The ONE in the CK bans, they matter because they make the model more complete where the data supports them, we kind of feed into the resource update. And then where we have holes, those have become our priority targets. As we go through this mid program, our initial model for the L2 showed there's a little hole, and it was undulating through here. So this program was specifically designed to step through these drill stations to fill this out, to round out our models. And that was exactly what we did kind of mid program. While we're getting these intercepts, we're doing the detailed log and we're also doing the detailed structural logging as well. So we can start to see the orientation of these veins. In these new veins, they expand this structural framework. And while I talk complexity, that complexity is good. It really shows us that, a, we're dealing with a system that really was able to pump a lot of fluids to the system and a lot of gold through the system. So by entering this and piecing it together, we're starting to develop that not only do we have a primary structure of that L2, but we also get these relay systems, these ramps, these plays that are coming off that are identified and when we identified now is Lane and the CK those tie in to the 1B, the LD and even the KM vein that we previously talked about. So for the resource update, this will be important because this is going to incorporate all this data into this continuity and this better understanding of the geology. And ultimately, the confidence we have in our models which is why we're doing this program. We're doing this to derisk this program so we can optimize what is there in our resource estimate. We're still taking a very, very disciplined approach and a very disciplined message is that, hey, we're improving these models we don't force supported structures or anything like that. These are all very, very deliberate geology based decisions when we link these things together through the system.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesI appreciate that. And I know the intersection fault is a brand-new feature, I think, for the market. So if you could just laser on that and walk us through what it is, why it matters for how investors should think about the deposit and -- then as a second question. What's still on the figure to figure out list there?
David Larimer
ExecutivesAbsolutely. The intersection thought was an interesting one for us. It's another piece of that structural architecture. And it does help us explain where these high-grade veins and these plays are at and kind of where they displace on the mine scale. When you look at the geology, especially at the large picture scale, we've shown in many of our sections that -- the Lucky shot system is displaced. You have the Coleman steps down to the lucky shot, steps down again. And those are the large major kind of district level faults that are controlling our mineralization. Now we're getting down and refining this down to another level of resolution where we're taking these blocks, the lucky shot fault system in that block. And now we can see that the offset and the intersection fault in that's another offset. And one of the best ways to look at this, when I look back, we look at our original model of L2. We're connecting up intercepts in 3-dimensional space. We see how what's fit through the continuity and the vein roles and she'll angulate through there. And there's a couple of areas that do have some complexities where she really rolls over and it's like, okay, does the vein really roll? Or is there something more coming through there. But while we're able to get this drilling through the system, we were able to model up the fault the intersection fall. We can see that, yes, this is a post-mineralization fault that's doing a similar thing between the Coleman and Monkey shop, but just on a smaller scale. As these stress kind of relieves themselves through 70 million years of the rock sitting there, still displaced and she'll settle down. So what this gives us is a better understanding of the 2 and the vein system is not undulating, but she's really coming over hitting a fall, offsetting down and then rolling across. For the investors, the key point is, hey, this deposit is structurally dynamic. It's not a simple flat vein system, and that's good. Helping us get this understanding now. It is just feeding forward into our geologic models. Eventually into our mining cycle. Knowing how this they behave will let us put those developments or excuse me, put those stopes in there accurately. So we can stay on the ore and mine gold and not waste rock. And this is very, very common in many deposits as we gain this resolution of what our deposit is doing. I'd like to equate this back to when I was working at Pogo. After 10 years of there, we were still finding fault systems and fault blocks that are just offsetting just slightly through programs. So it's definitely a key that we're finding this now and doing this understanding now, so we have the best, most accurate models going forward. I think some of the fun part when I look at this without getting too forward-looking is as we understand how these things offset -- we can also [indiscernible] in the rest of the drilling and the rest of those discoveries and displays on what they're doing a little further out and further down. So it's also opening up future exploration targets for us underground to optimize our models going forward.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesAppreciate. There's one question from the chat action that I'll throw in that speaks to that kind of an expression you're doing now. Most wold asks, I said it's a narrow vein high-grade, but that sometimes also means high dev cost. He wants to know how much you're anticipating Contango can produce from Lucky shot on an annual basis. right now, estimates. Obviously, we're not at the formal stage yet.
David Larimer
ExecutivesWell, the guidance to me, has remained the same. We're still looking to kind of prove up a resource 400,000, 500,000 ounces through this program with the intent of -- in the guidance of, hey, we won't produce this in 40,000 to 50,000 ounces a year and to be able to kind of pull this out like a caveat -- this is just the start. If we look at the lucky shot system with Coleman, this is just the known extent of the deposit that we know now. as we gain that geologic experience, we want expense down depth and pull it across laterally. This is the initial kind of district play of really understanding the district that opens a -- you can definitely feed for from there and expand out from there. But this is -- to me, this is just the start of the district that really needs is geological understanding that we can pull together to be able to mine this.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesExciting. And I must -- my next question is going to ask you to look into the future a little bit because I know you're about to kick off roughly 800 meters of underground development with GMS starting mid-May as I understand it. So what is that, just for folks in the room we're putting together a time line, what does that unlock for the next round of drilling? And how does this work bridge into that feasibility study coming in H1 next year.
J. Clark
ExecutivesYes. So to me, this underground exploration development, this is more than just access. I'm going to get a little excited here probably talking with my arms, but this is really a data generating platform here. This allows us more drilling, further drilling. And ultimately, what it does is gives us stronger feasibility inputs when we do our feasibility study. When we look at 800 meters of development, this is key because it's going to help us unlock the geometry, the continuity, the structural complexity that I talked about. But what it does is it reinforces what we showed is that this underground drilling and underground drilling stations are the preferred method for this. It gives us shorter drill holes. We have better control, better orientation of where these holes go and what they're specifically targeting that ultimately lets us model things in like these higher vein density because of the L1 or the CK ban or the KM vein, but also gives us that understanding of that post-mineralization faulty. So all of this is tied together into our drilling story here that's going to improve our confidence in our vein continuity, in the great distribution and in the structural interpretation eventually. Additionally, what we're really excited about of this is this underground exploration development is not only for drill platforms, but as we've seen in the past, this generates more areas that we can do critical mapping underground. It just gives us another platform to gain our geologic data we need the structures, additional sampling, understanding the geotechnical data that's all going to feed forward into this plan. And I caveat this by saying, we look at what we did in the West Rick, just on West drift. From there, we kind of discovered the KM vein. It didn't make sense until we drilled it. But yes, we understood that there was another structure that was gold bearing in here. Additionally, as we came back, we knew the CK ban was there kind of 2 dimensions, but it wasn't until we drilled it and we pulled that continuity out from that. but it all started with this access that I really truly call our geologic data-driven platforms underground.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesCool. And [indiscernible] is a follow-up question from the chat before I get back to the money, Mike, if you don't mind, 1 more geo question. What are the resource grade upgrade and recovery via ore sorting so far as [indiscernible]?
David Larimer
ExecutivesAll that's to be studied right now. Right now, the step is getting there, drill it. Like I said, I want to focus on the continuity complexity to give us that best picture when we go into the study. We don't want to front-load the study with any preconceived notions yet. Right now, this is a data-driven theme. We want to do the resource because at the end of the day, that is our biggest risk mitigation of the program is being able to do this, understanding what the best, most highly accurate models we got going forward. So to totally side step in the question, our focus right now is on the geology.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesNo, I don't think that size of things. That's a fair note. Mike, I will get back to the cash for a couple of seconds here as we close that view. I know closing this acquisition carries about that $4 million in cash we talked about earlier. But then the $10 million note has the principal payment starting on the second anniversary. How is Contango currently planning to fund this?
J. Clark
ExecutivesYes. We have -- we'll have plenty of cash on hand right now to fund that $6 million, $2.7 million today and the $300 million we already paid, along with the $4 million in July. So we have plenty of cash to pay that and to my earlier point, the promise right note has been structured in a way that we think we can get lucky shot into production and the funding those repayments with production.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesGreat. I know Rick called it in the -- of the company -- in the press release, called that a rare and exciting milestone to consolidate both surface and subsurface royalties at once. But while I'm here, face faced the year from your seat as CFO, why was this the right window just for investors watching to get this deal done? And how unusual is this kind of consolidation.
J. Clark
ExecutivesYes. I felt it was the right window for a few reasons, but we're extremely encouraged with the drilling success we've had at Lucky shot. And we remain confident that this will be our next operating mine to go in production. So you got that we are bullish on the gold price. We have a healthy balance sheet that can afford to this upfront cash payments. And we were fortunate enough to have an underlying land owner who was willing to sell on a reasonable terms on a structure that kind of work with what we're trying to achieve here. So from my perspective, this made economic sense, and it allows us to kind of unlock the upside or lock in the upside of the NSR. And it is more unusual to have the opportunity to buy these things back. So when the opportunity came there and we jumped on it.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesI have one question for you, Mike, that sounds -- I promise like a setup question, but I really promised a real investor actually asked this on e-mail. That's where can people buy shares of Contango Silver.
J. Clark
ExecutivesWell, you can buy them on the NYSE American or you can buy on the TSX, both trade under the symbol CTGO.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesGet to some of the more esoteric questions from the chat, and feel free. We can move any of these. I can shoot them to the team afterwards. But [indiscernible] wanted to know, we came out about 15 minutes ago. So near the beginning of the event. Dave might be comment for you Mike, if you have some economic points on it to be us. I love if you could compare Lucky shot to munch just so investors can understand what's next.
David Larimer
ExecutivesI would -- I'll start off, again, coming from a geology perspective. So similarities are gold systems in Alaska, Tintina gold belt. So for at least the background, geologic knowledge we're dealing with similar time frame, similar large-scale geologic processes through there as we understand interior Alaska. After that, you kind of diverged out into your deposit types. Manto has a different structural system has a different fluid pumping system, Lucky Shot, very, very structurally controlled, very, very time-wise and it's a higher grade thinning your skin fight. So our fight is a little different in the exploration in where it's going to be very really intensive and underground focused because it is deeper. After that, everything else is going to be tied to deal on the geology, your metallurgy and how things pull together, geochemically, totally different systems. But for a geologic standpoint, it's something that's definitely in our wheelhouse, and we're extremely familiar with from LaMancho, the lucky shot. We study these systems very well. And we know the critical things that make them tick, and those are the critical things that we're looking for, for resource expansion.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesGreat. No, I appreciate the details there. Mike, I don't know if you have any additional.
J. Clark
ExecutivesHigh level, we averaged 60,000 ounces of production on a Manh Choh here. We only own 30% of that, but we get that 60,000 with Lucky shop, we own 100%, but we target we're going to get 40,000 to 50,000 ounces a year. And we anticipate it will have a longer mine life as well.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesNow there's 2 questions that sort of go together, so I'll ask some kind of 1 after another. That's what order to Contango's current project portfolio go into production. So what's basically the order of operations for which projects are up a bat next?
David Larimer
ExecutivesFrom a geologic point of view, a lucky shot is more advanced. So obviously, Manh Choh in production right now. Lucky shot is at a more advanced stage with respect to Johnson Track and our [ Kidsal ] projects. So just from a geology aspect, you kind of see the flow-through there, the Lucky shot is the more advanced project right now and has the shorter time line to that production decision. Johnson Track, not far behind it. You got a great resource. The IA was published out. But right now, our short-term thing is construction, getting to the portal to get underground in the next 2 years, so we can do that next level drilling. So we can do the very similar stuff that we're doing, the lucky shot that we're doing.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesAwesome. Sorry, the other question that dovetails in and Mike, I can throw this to you first, so you can jump in there as does Lucky Shop production dovetail with Manh Choh depletion?
J. Clark
ExecutivesYes, it does. I think right now, we kind of target Manh Choh kind of going out to 2029, 2030. Lucky shop, we're working towards an objective of getting that in production in 2018. And to Dave's point, Johnson Track is about 2 years behind Lucky Shot. Lucky shops fully permitted, ready to go into production. Johnson Track is anticipating that next permit in 2028. But you kind of have Manh Choh kind of winding down potentially near the end of 2019 or 200 and then you kind of have like a shot coming on and then Johnson Track 2 years behind it. So they should all kind of replace that and then hits all valid. We still have a bit of work to do. But ideally, we're working towards all 3 of those moving forward.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesThat's great. Dave, there's one question from I want to know what would have to happen to reach 1 million ounces at Lucky Shot? And if $1 million is possible, how many years do you reckon it would take to get there?
David Larimer
ExecutivesDefinitely a fair question. [indiscernible] to forward leaning and a forward-looking statement, I think, as a geologist potential is there in the district, absolutely. What it's going to take to get us there is what we're doing now. And it's that disciplined approach. We want to start with what we know and you're basically grow in that seat. We're going to start off, grow the lucky shot, Coleman systems, understand that. And we do have the rest of a strong position in the rest of the district. So our geologists, our senior geologists in their copious free time, mostly on Sundays when they can't sleep, we sit down and we try to figure out what's the rest of that district. What have we learned this week and how can we apply that forward? And it's just all about adding those ounces up in the resource as we step out to that disciplined approach across the district through there. It will take a little time. Is it doable? Yes, but we want to stay disciplined in what we're doing. We just don't want to go out there and we love to fund helicopter stuff, way out in the woods. But again, it comes down to maintaining our approach and driving value to the company, just one program at a time.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesGreat. There's a complex geo question that I'm going to leave to the end. So I'll leave that for a second and get into the other 2 first. Charles from the chat asks, when will the definitive feasibility study likely be completed for Lucky Shot?
David Larimer
ExecutivesRight now, with our schedule at our underground development, that next phase is of surface and underground drilling. We're looking about H1 and 2027 to have that feasibility. That's our target to get that all completed in.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesGreat. And Peter, as a follow-up on your last question, just said, it's good you don't need a lucky break to get beyond 4,500 ounces. It's a reasonable expectation, subject to our time investment drilling, et cetera. One question, and I feel crazy asking a DSO question without Rick because I don't think I've ever asked the DSO question on an without Rick in the room. But somebody wants to know if you can touch on the pros and cons of using DSO for Lucky Shot. Is Lucky Shot planning to be a DSO operation like Manh Choh then why?
J. Clark
ExecutivesI can start on this one. Yes, we definitely planned for Lucky to be DSO. And to meet the criteria for DSO, you got to be near infrastructure. And that infrastructure can be road, rail or water. With Manh Choh, you're on the highway with Lucky shot, you right into the highway, but you're also next to the rail. So we intend to use the rail, whether it goes north or south, we'll decide that over the next year here. But we will use the rail, and it is a cheaper form of transportation in the road. And then obviously, water is the cheapest form of DSO transportation, which is what you'll see for Johnson Track and [indiscernible]
David Larimer
ExecutivesI'll also throw in their lucky shot geologically, was very, very supportive of that DSO model. It is what we consider a very clean or it's course pain with gold. There's not a lot of sulfides. There are some sulfides there. There are not a lot of sulfide -- you don't have a lot of bad other elements or bad players in there. So to a certain degree, it's a very clean or they would blend very well in many operations fit that DSO model.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesGreat. That's great standing in for Rick. I feel like Rick is in the room with us talking about DSO, I was on that. One person wants to know, is there any potential extension of Manh Choh gold ounces. So is there any exploration work being done to expand Manh Choh's current ounces.
David Larimer
ExecutivesYes. We're linked in to the peak gold side and the exploration continues on. There's always potential to find buy more stuff, especially as you start getting down to the bottom of the pit. To me, the big thing is, hey, what can you optimize short range and then look in kind of that middle range in the long term and those programs are ongoing now?
Romeo Maione
AttendeesGreat. Okay. Dave, I got some geo nerve questions for you here, so we'll get into the good stuff. Somebody is interested in the mining aspect and the types of machines you're implementing to get there physically. You want to know, one, are there proactive systems set in place for breakdown?
David Larimer
ExecutivesFor breakdowns with respect to mine equipment or drills.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesI believe that's it. Yes, for physical mining equipment.
David Larimer
ExecutivesAll that will be kind of tightening together. When we do look and this is coming from a geology aspect and a mine geology aspect, the banks do set up well to mine. The geotech is very, very well. It's very fascinating kind of the side story of this. You go and you look at some of the open structures right now. They've been open for 60, 70 years and they haven't collapsed on themselves. So Geotechnically, it's a very, very strong mine. Mining through it, we'll have to get our final models. What are the main orientations are at on that with the resource. And then we can kind of turn that over to a little better engineering design. It is narrow vein mining. So obviously, you want to minimize dilution. Smaller headings, smaller stopes are the better whether or not you go in more conventional jackleg or more conventional small-scale, conventional mining are always options out there. We talked in our time of what else can we do there slusher stopes that we can do? And then how do you make those engineering and mine decisions fit to your geology. That's going to be the key. And how do you optimize your ore coming out while minimizing dilution. All to be seen and is going to be rolled into the feasibility study in the next year.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesAwesome. And the last part of his question was what consumables are most important to the actual drilling and removal?
David Larimer
ExecutivesFor the drilling, I mean, consumables, I mean, it's always going to come down to your energy costs first. Whether or not you're powering your drills electrical, which seems to be the most efficient with the diesel trend to get in through there, your diesel will be your next biggest ones. Then also, you got your other consumables in there, your ground support, split sets or your bolts in there to keep the rock safe and component in there. And then it's going to come down to your explosives generally, what do you need to kind of do your disposals in there. So it's all going to be tied back in those economics that will be tied into a modern feasibility study with the current costs.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesOkay. Great. And one last one for you from the there, Dave, or at least while I'm asking it is people's last chance to ask a question. I said, while there's a geo on the call, any chance of other metals besides gold at Lucky shot, Silver rarer, tungsten antimony, molybdenum, et cetera.
David Larimer
ExecutivesYes. We have looked at that in the system, and it's strikingly there are what we call associated elements with them. There are little telerium. Little elements, but it's such a small scale right now that nothing really stands out. We do keep our finger on this. All of our assays, not only do we photon assay for gold, but we do a whole complete package on every single assay. So we're studying all these elements, and we're seeing if they increase and decrease. It is interesting when you start to get into these accessory or even other critical metals that are in there, how do they concentrate and how do they play geochemically. And we could go on and on a long dissertation about the sulfonation states and how these things pull together through there. But the key is we're looking at these. And right now, gold seems to be the most economic, little silver. Those will fall out in a lot of the GeoMetwork that we have planned up in the next year. But this truly is one of those high-grade pretty much gold systems.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesStraight gold love it. And Dave, I always like to end with a bit of a big picture question for what you're doing for the rest of the year. are you most excited about at Lucky shot specifically just for 2026, like what keeps you getting up in the morning, I'll jazz?
David Larimer
ExecutivesWhat gets me jazzed the most is when I go down there, I see the geos that we have down there, our GEO team. And they're excited every more, and they're just jumping up and down, biting at the bit where are the drillers, where is the core. They get that new core out and they flop it on the table and we all just kind of get over to the core. And we all kind of go through it. That's the most exciting point. It's almost a race sometimes and say, hey, who can find visible gold the first. And then you get out there and you find the goal, that's exciting. And then you kind of -- you get -- you kind of back off and let those core lagers do their work. They're marking up the core going through her come back and checking on them, and they're excited. Hey, check out this structure. And how does it sit? So you start marking up and you look at the these angles on the structure and then taking those and putting them into the model and then you start to see how these things are lining up through dimensional space and we're all kind of talking to it as a group. That gives me the most exciting. The next one that really gets me excited is, what's that next fresh rock going to look like? You take those next rounds and our exploration underground development. We're going to be right behind them getting on there, looking at structures, looking at that fresh rock that may have never been exposed before. And just seeing that fresh rock and holding that in your hand is exciting. And of course, the final thing is tying this together, big picture-wise, over our next couple of phases of operation in the next year. you kind of have a mental picture of, hey, this is what the models are doing now. These are kind of our best estimates of what's going on there and then tying that picture together, coming back with the drilling and seeing how the models change, like, no, we're totally wrong there, but yes, that totally makes sense. And having that understanding of how these systems come together that's the passion. That's why you become an economic geologist at the end of the day. For the next couple of months I mean just on projects. That's the summer.
Romeo Maione
AttendeesSo I think that's probably a pretty good note to leave it on. So Mike, Dave, thanks so much for letting me grill you in the audience about both today's news, but also looking out a bit broader. I really appreciate both your time. And I know there are a lot of you in the room, you think of the perfect question to ask right after the event, please feel free to message in I'll make sure the team gets in. There's also a request meeting but at the bottom of the screen, the see the last chance to press up the close you close for the day. I'll make sure you get connected to the Contango Soleris old team. But Mike, Dave, thank you so much. This is fun. I appreciate you going though the news of me.
J. Clark
ExecutivesThanks, Rami. Thanks, everyone.
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