Contango Silver & Gold Inc.
Contango Silver & Gold holds a 30% interest in the Peak Gold/Manh Choh JV with Kinross Gold (current gold production) and separately advances its wholly owned Lucky Shot and Johnson Tract projects in Alaska. Johnson Tract -- acquired via the Jul 2024 HighGold Mining acquisition -- is a gold-silver-copper-zinc polymetallic deposit near tidewater in Southcentral Alaska (JT Deposit: Indicated 598,000 oz Au / 673,000 oz Ag / 43.1M lb Cu, plus zinc); a $17M 2026 program is building a 3-mile access road, winterizing the camp, and advancing FAST-41 environmental permitting toward construction. The company merged with Dolly Varden Silver Corp on Mar 26 2026, adding the ~247,000-acre Kitsault Valley project in BC's Golden Triangle -- a silver-dominant historic-producer district (Dolly Varden, Torbrit, Homestake, Wolf, North Star) now the subject of an updated Mineral Resource Estimate and a 40,000-metre, $25M 2026 drill campaign. The company eliminated its gold hedges in 2026 and, following the merger, began trading on the TSX (Apr 13 2026, market-open celebration Jun 12 2026) alongside its existing NYSE American listing.
Notable vs. Peers
- All-in sustaining cost of $1,616/oz is 18% lower than the peer producer average of $1,960/oz.
Lifecycle Milestones
Construction Milestones
5 of 5 reached- May 2023 · Alaska DNR issued the Integrated Solid Waste Management Permit (No. 2023DB0001) for Manh Choh, one of the key state permits required for mine operation. · Source
- Jul 2022 · Following a positive Feasibility Study, the Kinross board approved a construction decision on the Manh Choh project (Contango holds 30%, Kinross subsidiary KG Mining 70% and operator). · Source
- Aug 2023 · Contango announced commencement of mining operations at Manh Choh with a ground-breaking ceremony, construction completed on budget and schedule. · Source
- Reached — date not disclosed · The Peak Gold JV completed its first batch of Manh Choh ore processed through Kinross's Fort Knox mill (~55,000 oz gold, ~11,000 oz silver), with Contango selling its share for $32.2M around early-mid July 2024; exact pour date not stated precisely in available reporting. · Source
- Reached — date not disclosed · Genuinely reached, but no source found states an explicit declared commercial-production threshold date: Contango holds a 30% non-operating interest in the Peak Gold joint venture's Manh Choh mine (Alaska); KG Mining (Alaska), Inc., an indirect subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corporation, holds the remaining 70% and operates both the mine and the Fort Knox mill that processes its ore. First gold was poured 2024-07-08 (mining began August 2023, ore hauling November 2023), and production has continued in discrete seasonal "campaigns" since (a second campaign began in 2025, a 2026 campaign began 2026-02-05) rather than as continuous year-round operation with one clean declared threshold. Note: Miner.businessModel reads OPERATOR in the DB despite this minority/non-operating JV structure -- an existing DB categorization not altered by this milestone-only write, matching the ATM precedent (batch4). This row was missing entirely prior to 2026-08-21 -- a genuine data gap, not a stage error; Miner.stage was already correctly PRODUCTION. · Source
Milestones are recorded only from a company's own dated disclosure. A milestone with no date shown is one we can confirm was reached but for which no date was disclosed — we don't estimate one. "Not yet reached" means exactly that, not that a date is missing. An "Expected" line likewise only ever reflects the company's own guidance (e.g. a study or permit decision targeted for a stated quarter) — most not-yet-reached milestones have none, and that absence means no such guidance has been disclosed, not that one is overdue.
A relative ranking of how closely this company matches the profile of juniors that have actually been acquired — not a probability, and not a reason to buy. Acquisitions are rare: only a few dozen significant deals happen a year across a universe of thousands of juniors, so even a high score here describes a long shot. The strongest signal the underlying research identifies — whether a major already holds a JV, earn-in, or 5–19.9% strategic stake — isn't tracked yet and is absent from this score.
Your Rankings
Management Team
Over 30 years in the resource sector, including serving as Vice President of Exploration for Placer Dome from 1990 to 1997. Formed NovaGold Resources in 1998, acquired the Donlin Gold project in southwest Alaska, and served as its President/CEO from 1999 to 2012, advancing the project to a 40-million-ounce gold discovery. NovaGold spun out Trilogy Metals in 2011, and he served as Trilogy's President/CEO from January 2012 before becoming President & CEO of Contango ORE in 2020.
Chartered Professional Accountant holding a Bachelor of Technology in Accounting from the British Columbia Institute of Technology, with over 18 years in mining-sector executive management. Served as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary of Alexco Resource Corp. from December 2014 until the company's acquisition by Hecla Mining Company in September 2022, and earlier was CFO of Goldgroup Mining Inc. (2010-2014) and of the Grosso Group and its member companies (2007-2010). Appointed Executive Vice President - Finance of Contango ORE, Inc. in July 2023, becoming Chief Financial Officer & Corporate Secretary of what is now Contango Silver & Gold Inc. in January 2024; also joined the board of Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. in 2025.
Certified Professional Geoscientist (CPG) with over 20 years of experience executing mineral exploration programs. Previously served as Chief Exploration Geologist for the Pogo Gold Mine in Alaska and as Principal Geologist, Exploration for Teck Resources at its Vancouver head office. Currently Vice President of Exploration at Contango Silver & Gold Inc., where he serves as a Qualified Person under SEC Regulation S-K 1300.
Insiders, Investors & Smart Money
Notable shareholders and insiders whose involvement is worth knowing about, plus what we're seeing from institutional/large-investor activity.
Contango's real institutional backing is not on its share register but in its mine: it owns 30% of the Peak Gold joint venture that operates Manh Choh in Alaska, with Kinross Gold holding the other 70% and running it, and the venture has been paying Contango cash -- a US$9 million distribution in the second quarter of 2026 alone. Kinross owns no Contango stock, and Royal Gold sold out of the shares entirely in 2020, keeping royalties instead. State Street Corp (7.6%) and BlackRock, Inc. (6.9%) are both real disclosed holders, but both are passive index managers rather than discretionary specialist picks. Insiders both bought and sold over the past year: director Clynton Nauman bought 10,000 shares at $18.56 in April 2026 and chief executive Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse bought in June, against larger selling by the chief financial officer and others.
No notable insiders tracked for this miner yet.
Reports, Presentations & Documents
We haven't parsed this company's PEA/PFS/FS recommendations yet — cut-off grade, mine life, DCF/NPV, and the report's own next-steps guidance are a planned research pass, not live data for every company yet.