Contango ORE Inc (CTGO) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

(audio in progress) I saw today we got all the way from Alaska to Australia. So I'm happy to say the sun never sets on this webinar, which is always nice. I've got with me today, Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, CEO of Contango Ore; and the company's CFO, Mike Clark. Gentlemen, how are you today?

（音頻進行中）我今天看到我們從阿拉斯加一路到達了澳大利亞。所以我很高興地說，這次網路研討會永遠不會落幕，這總是令人愉快的。今天與我一起出席的是 Contango Ore 執行長 Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse 和公司財務長 Mike Clark。先生們，您今天感覺怎麼樣？

Good morning, Romeo. How are you going?

早安，羅密歐。你好嗎？

Good. Good. So here's how today is going to work for everybody that's in the room. First, I'm going to throw it to Rick just to recap their recent news. Then I've got some questions that I'm going to ask both the executives, but then I'm going to throw it to the live audience today for questions that you have.

好的。好的。以下是今天在座各位的工作安排。首先，我要向 Rick 介紹他們的最新消息。然後我有一些問題要問兩位高管，但今天我將把這些問題拋給現場觀眾，以回答你們的問題。

So this is an interactive event. That chat button in the bottom of your screen, you can use it at any point during today's event to ask Rick and Mike any questions that you might have. I'll try to get to as many as possible. If for whatever reason I don't get to your question, I'll make sure the Contango team gets to it, and they'll get back to you as soon as possible.

所以這是一個互動活動。您可以在螢幕底部的聊天按鈕上，在今天的活動期間的任何時間使用它來向 Rick 和 Mike 詢問您可能遇到的任何問題。我會盡力做到盡可能多。如果我因為某些原因沒有回答您的問題，我會確保 Contango 團隊能夠回答，他們會盡快回覆您。

The only other piece of the housekeeping is that today's event is being recorded, and the replay will be available late this afternoon Eastern Time. It should come right in your inbox, but also be available on 6ix' YouTube channel. So I will throw it to start off to get the protein of today's event with Rick.

另一件需要注意的事是，今天的活動正在錄製中，重播將於美國東部時間今天下午晚些時候提供。它應該直接發送到您的收件匣，但也可以在 6ix 的 YouTube 頻道上找到。因此，我將首先扔掉它，以獲取與 Rick 一起參加今天活動的蛋白質。

Romeo, thanks, and thanks, everybody, for joining us for a review of our Q2 financials. It was a great quarter. Operating earnings were $23 million, net income of about $16 million. I'm really proud of our cash costs, seeing those being well under guidance. Cash costs for the quarter were $1,416; for the year, $1,375.

羅密歐，謝謝，也謝謝大家加入我們對第二季財務狀況的回顧。這是一個偉大的季度。營業利潤為 2,300 萬美元，淨利約 1,600 萬美元。我對我們的現金成本感到非常自豪，因為這些成本都處於良好的指導水準。本季現金成本為 1,416 美元；全年現金成本為 1,375 美元。

Our all-in sustaining costs, $1,548 for the quarter and $1,462 year-to-date. We'll talk about JT. We're focused on permitting there. This is a Johnson Tract project. That's going well. Very, very pleased with the progress we're making there. Lucky Shot is still on hold, but we are looking at getting a drill program going there. We can -- we'll talk more about that with some of the Q&A, I think.

我們的全部維持成本本季為 1,548 美元，年初至今為 1,462 美元。我們將討論 JT。我們專注於那裡的許可。這是 Johnson Tract 專案。一切進展順利。我們對我們在那裡取得的進展感到非常非常高興。「幸運一擊」計畫仍處於擱置狀態，但我們正在考慮在那裡開展演習計畫。我們可以——我想我們會透過一些問答來進一步討論這個問題。

And again, as we're kind of on a steady path here, focus paying down debt, delivering the hedges. And today, actually our third campaign of processing ore at the Fort Knox mill starts. There's about 250,000 tonnes, 0.25 million tonnes on the pad at Fort Knox, and it grades about 0.023 -- 0.23 ounces per ton, which is about 7 grams. So just with that sort of overview, happy to just jump into the question from you.

再說一次，由於我們正走在一條穩定的道路上，重點是償還債務，進行對沖。今天，我們在諾克斯堡工廠的第三次礦石加工活動實際上開始了。諾克斯堡的鑽井平台上約有 25 萬噸，品位約為每噸 0.023 至 0.23 盎司，約 7 克。有了這樣的概述，我很高興直接回答您的問題。

Awesome. Well, I got a bunch, so bear with me while I grill you guys for a little bit. I do want to start with the numbers that kind of jumped right off the page for me. So obviously, you went from $3.1 million operating loss in Q2 of last year to $23 million operating income this quarter. Always nice to see.

驚人的。好吧，我有很多，所以請耐心等我稍微盤問你們。我確實想從那些讓我一眼就能看到的數字開始。因此，很明顯，你們的營業虧損從去年第二季的 310 萬美元增加到了本季的 2,300 萬美元。總是很高興看到。

Most mining companies I talk to don't see money, so it's always nice to see that. In addition, the company had a net loss in Q2 of last year of $18.5 million, now net income of $15.9 million. So beyond, obviously, increased gold production, what initiatives are contributing here? What's making that big change?

我接觸過的大多數礦業公司都看不到錢，所以看到這一點總是令人高興的。此外，該公司去年第二季淨虧損1,850萬美元，目前淨收入為1,590萬美元。那麼，除了增加黃金產量之外，還有哪些措施起到了促進作用呢？是什麼導致瞭如此巨大的改變？

Well, as you say, it's not common to see a junior company and even a junior producing company making more money than its spending. And so it's definitely a sea change in terms of how -- I think how we're viewed by the market. We were -- I was actually wearing a shirt the other day, it was from our -- when the groundbreaking ceremony from August 29, 2023. So we've been mining now at Manh Choh for two years, close to and been in production.

嗯，正如你所說，初級公司甚至初級生產公司的收入超過支出的情況並不常見。因此，就市場對我們的看法而言，這絕對是一個巨大的變化。我們——前幾天我實際上穿了一件襯衫，那是我們——2023 年 8 月 29 日奠基儀式時穿的。我們現在已經在 Manh Choh 採礦兩年了，接近並已投入生產。

We started production, of course, in July of last year. So we're kind of up on step in terms of if you drive a boat, the ultimate way to get a boat operating smoothly is to get up on step. And that's kind of the way I feel the project is now. The mining has been very smooth and on plan, on schedule, on budget. The ore transport has gone, I think, better than planned in terms of not as many shutdown days due to weather and things like that.

當然，我們從去年七月就開始生產了。因此，就駕駛船而言，我們的做法是先踏出一步，讓船平穩運行的最終方法就是踏出一步。這就是我現在對這個專案的感覺。採礦工作進展非常順利，按照計畫、按時、按預算進行。我認為，礦石運輸情況比計劃的要好，因為由於天氣等原因而停工的天數沒有那麼多。

The lawsuit's gone away. So the last part -- piece of the puzzle is running the ore through the mill, and they just continue to make nice improvements, and we're averaging 92%, 93% recovery, which is very respectable. We're maintaining that mix of oxide sulfide ore 2:1 ratio, and that keeps the recoveries in the plus 90%, which is, again, very respectable. That means you're pouring gold and you're making money and nice to see the all-in sustaining costs coming in well under guidance. And that's -- obviously, the lower the all-in sustaining costs are the higher the margin on the realized price of gold.

訴訟已經結束。所以最後一部分——難題的一部分是讓礦石通過磨機，它們繼續取得很好的改進，我們的平均回收率達到 92% 到 93%，這是非常可觀的。我們將氧化硫化礦的混合比例保持在 2:1，這樣回收率就能保持在 90% 以上，這也是非常可觀的。這意味著你正在投入黃金，正在賺錢，並且很高興看到所有維持成本都遠低於預期。顯然，總維持成本越低，黃金實現價格的利潤就越高。

So Mike, maybe you want to maybe comment from your perspective?

那麼麥克，也許你想從你的角度發表評論？

Yes. No, that was a good explanation. I think just -- yes, on the income from operations, they weren't in production in the first half of 2024, whereas we were in production here. So that's purely driven by production. I think the net income has increased for two reasons.

是的。不，這是一個很好的解釋。我認為——是的，就營業收入而言，他們在 2024 年上半年沒有投入生產，而我們在這裡投入生產。所以這純粹是由生產所驅動的。我認為淨收入增加有兩個原因。

Last year, we were in a continually increasing gold price environment. So you kind of always had these unrealized losses on your hedges, so your derivative contracts, which kept increasing our losses during the period.

去年，我們處於金價持續上漲的環境中。因此，您的對沖以及衍生性合約中總是存在這些未實現的損失，這在此期間不斷增加了我們的損失。

In addition, we also -- and that stabilized during this quarter. So you didn't really see that happen. We just kind of recognize the recognized portion from delivering the hedges. So no real unrealized portion. In addition to that, we did have a $6.4 million gain on our Onyx shares that we recognized in the quarter. So those 5 million shares we acquired as part of the HighGold acquisition. So those kind of hit the net income this quarter.

此外，我們也——並且在本季趨於穩定。所以你並沒有真正看到這種情況發生。我們只是從交付對沖中識別出已確認的部分。因此沒有實際未實現的部分。除此之外，我們在本季也確認了 Onyx 股票的 640 萬美元收益。因此，我們在收購 HighGold 時收購了 500 萬股股票。因此這些都影響了本季的淨收入。

Great. While I'm on with you, Mike, actually, I know earnings per share jumped from a loss of $1.90 to a profit of $1.24 per diluted share. And it looks like $3,274 per ounce realized spot price versus that blended carry trade of $2,441. So I'm curious if you can just like looking for some color on your pricing strategy and how that contributed to the bottom line this quarter.

偉大的。麥克，當我和你在一起時，實際上，我知道每股收益從虧損 1.90 美元躍升至每股收益 1.24 美元。看起來，現貨實際價格為每盎司 3,274 美元，而混合套利交易價格為每盎司 2,441 美元。所以我很好奇您是否可以了解您的定價策略以及它對本季利潤的貢獻。

Yes. Well, the hedging strategy, for the most part, is just delivering to the hedges. And so if you deliver effectively about 70% of our gold goes into the hedges, 30% goes into -- we sell at spot price during the year. And so when you look at the average gold price during the quarter, let's just say it was $3,300 and our hedge price is $2,000, you kind of end up with a blended price of about $2,450.

是的。嗯，對沖策略在大多數情況下只是向對沖者交付。因此，如果您有效交付，我們約 70% 的黃金將用於對沖，30% 將用於——我們在年內以現貨價格出售。因此，當您查看本季的平均黃金價格時，假設它是 3,300 美元，而我們的對沖價格是 2,000 美元，那麼您最終得到的混合價格約為 2,450 美元。

The carry trade we brought in this year, which just helps us manage our cash flows so that when we receive our deliveries of gold from the Peak Gold JV, we can turn around and sell it at spot price -- at 100% of the spot price, pay the Peak Gold for that gold, which comes at a slight discount, which is why you see about $1 million gain on metal sales each quarter. That's a slight gain we make. So we sell that gold at spot price, the banks effectively fund that difference between the $3,300 and the $2,000.

我們今年引入的套利交易有助於我們管理現金流，這樣當我們從 Peak Gold JV 收到黃金時，我們就可以轉而以現貨價格出售——以現貨價格的 100% 向 Peak Gold 支付黃金費用，這樣可以獲得輕微的折扣，這就是為什麼你會看到每個季度金屬銷售收益約為 100 萬美元。這是我們取得的一點進步。因此，我們以現貨價格出售黃金，銀行實際上為 3,300 美元和 2,000 美元之間的差額提供資金。

And then when the hedge delivery date comes up in the next quarter, we then can deliver into the -- we basically settle that hedge right then. So it allows us to conserve our cash. In Q1, we made -- there was a rising gold price, we actually saved a couple of million dollars by doing that carry trade. I think in this quarter, it cost us a couple of hundred thousand dollars. But it basically ensures we take no risk on the gold price moving in either direction where it limits any exposure because what we don't want to have is the gold price, we sell it at, say, $3,000 and that when we have to deliver or settle that hedge, it's at $3,500.

然後，當下個季度的對沖交割日期到來時，我們就可以交割——我們基本上就在那時結算該對沖。因此它可以讓我們節省現金。在第一季度，由於金價上漲，我們透過套利交易實際上節省了幾百萬美元。我認為本季我們花了幾十萬美元。但它基本上確保了我們不承擔金價波動的風險，從而限制了任何風險敞口，因為我們不希望金價上漲，我們以 3,000 美元的價格出售，而當我們必須交付或結算對沖時，價格是 3,500 美元。

We're at $500 an ounce, and that could put us in a really tricky position. So this just manages risk and that slight difference gives us about $1 million gain per quarter.

目前金價為每盎司 500 美元，這可能會讓我們陷入非常棘手的境地。因此，這只是管理風險，而這個微小的差異為我們帶來了每季約 100 萬美元的收益。

Okay. Makes sense. I want to get into operational details real quick. So Rick, I'll throw it to you. I know this third campaign is processing 250,000 tons at 0.23 ounces per ton, which for the metric folks in the audience, 7 grams per ton grade. So I'm curious, how does this compare to your Q2 performance of 255,000 tons at 0.22? And what's driving that grade consistency at Manh Choh? Where does that come from?

好的。有道理。我想快速了解操作細節。那麼瑞克，我把它丟給你。我知道第三次活動正在處理 25 萬噸黃金，每噸含金量為 0.23 盎司，對於在座的各位公制人士來說，也就是每噸含金量為 7 克。所以我很好奇，這與您第二季度 255,000 噸 0.22 的表現相比如何？那麼，是什麼推動了 Manh Choh 成績的穩定呢？這是從哪裡來的？

Yes. And it really is -- I think I mentioned it earlier, this -- the mill likes to run with this 2/3, 1/3 ratio of oxide to sulfide. And oxide ores are easier to process. They just consume less consumables and things like that. So as you add -- as you get deeper in the ore body, you're adding more and more sulfide. But we've got a big low-grade stockpile that we can -- of oxide that we can kind of keep feeding in there.

是的。事實確實如此 — — 我想我之前提到過 — — 工廠喜歡以 2/3、1/3 的氧化物與硫化物比例運行。氧化礦石更易於加工。他們只是消耗較少的消耗品和諸如此類的東西。因此，隨著礦體越來越深，你會添加越來越多的硫化物。但是我們擁有大量低品位氧化物庫存，我們可以將其不斷輸送到那裡。

So that's what's kind of driving the grade. Now we are in the process, and I'm using the Royal we here, Kinross again, is a manager and it's their mill. But they're in the process of adding an oxygen sparging circuit to the cyanide leach tanks.

這就是推動成績的因素。現在我們正在進行這個過程，我在這裡使用皇家我們，金羅斯再次是經理，這是他們的工廠。但他們正在為氰化物浸出槽添加氧氣噴射迴路。

And what oxygen is just kind of -- it acts as a bit of a catalyst to help the reactions go. The sulfide ore is a very good performing sulfide ore in terms of extracting the gold from the cyanide solution. It's not the least bit refractory. But sulfides do consume more consumables. And so the oxygen just helps get that going.

氧氣只是起到催化劑的作用，幫助反應進行。就從氰化物溶液中提取金而言，硫化礦是一種性能非常好的硫化礦。它一點也不難處理。但硫化物確實會消耗更多的消耗品。所以氧氣只是幫助實現這一點。

And so they're putting an oxygen sparging system in place, which I think should be up and running by the end of the year, and I think ready to sort of put into the performance.

因此，他們正在安裝氧氣噴射系統，我認為該系統應該在今年年底前投入運行，並準備好投入使用。

As we get deeper in the ore body and we have more and more sulfide, at some point we're not going to maintain that 2:1 ratio and -- as you deplete the oxide. So that's kind of operationally what's going on. And so there's a bit of capital, obviously, to put the oxygen system in place and some of that is showing up in the capital expenditures. And then the other part of the operational thing is these trucks have -- the trucks hauling the ore have over 1 million miles on them now. So we have to start replacing them.

隨著我們深入礦體，硫化物越來越多，在某個時候，我們將無法維持 2:1 的比例，而且——隨著氧化物的耗盡。從操作上來說，這就是正在發生的事情。因此，顯然需要一些資金來安裝氧氣系統，其中一部分體現在資本支出中。然後，運營的另一部分是這些卡車——運輸礦石的卡車現在已經行駛了 100 多萬英里。所以我們必須開始替換它們。

And it's amazing after a year -- a couple of years of mining operation, you're starting to replace your trucks. But those are things that show up in the all-in sustaining costs because they're capital that are spent on operations. So I don't know, Mike, if you have anything to add to that.

令人驚訝的是，經過一年或幾年的採礦作業後，你開始更換卡車。但這些都是在總維持成本中反映出來的，因為它們是用於營運的資本。所以我不知道，麥克，你是否還有什麼要補充的。

No, that's how I would explain it.

不，這就是我的解釋。

Perfect. I want to get into cash flow and capital allocation for a second. So I know generating $36.9 million in operating cash flow for the first half versus $6.9 million last year. But with $30 million in Q2 distributions from Peak Gold, $54 million year-to-date, how are you guys balancing debt reduction? I know you paid down $29 million so far. But what's the plan on debt reduction versus reinvestment in growth projects? Just looking to get your head on that.

完美的。我想稍微討論一下現金流和資本配置。所以我知道上半年的營運現金流為 3,690 萬美元，而去年同期為 690 萬美元。但是，Peak Gold 第二季度的分配額為 3000 萬美元，今年迄今為止的分配額為 5400 萬美元，你們如何平衡債務削減？我知道您迄今已償還了 2900 萬美元。但是，削減債務與再投資成長項目的計劃是什麼？只是想讓你明白這一點。

I'll let Mike go first, and I might throw in after.

我會先讓麥克走，然後我可能會加入。

Yes. Well, my focus is ensuring I can always meet those delivery dates so that the debt comes every quarter, hedge deliveries every quarter. So my -- the focus right now is we make -- we have sufficient capital to ensure that we can make all those payments through the maturity with -- currently for 2025, there's some extra cash we had this year, and our focus has been on the permitting at JT.

是的。嗯，我的重點是確保我總是能滿足這些交貨日期，以便每季都能償還債務，每季都能對沖交貨。因此，我現在的重點是——我們有足夠的資本來確保我們能夠在到期日之前支付所有款項——目前是 2025 年，今年我們有一些額外的現金，我們的重點是 JT 的許可。

So with what we're anticipating, which I expect we'll probably do slightly better, we're going to bring our debt down from where it currently is at about $23 million today. We'll finish the year around $15 million of debt with ING and Macquarie. And then our hedge position is currently at -- as of today is just under 63,000 ounces, and we should bring that down by another 20,000 ounces to about 43,000 by the end of the year. So that's the main focus of the proceeds we have, which is where the majority of cash goes, but we do keep a little bit aside for other projects. And I'll pass it to Rick.

因此，根據我們的預期，我預計我們可能會做得更好一些，我們將把債務從目前的約 2300 萬美元降低。今年，我們與荷蘭國際集團 (ING) 和麥格理 (Macquarie) 的債務總額將達到 1500 萬美元左右。然後，我們的對沖頭寸目前為 - 截至今天略低於 63,000 盎司，到年底我們應該再將其減少 20,000 盎司至約 43,000 盎司。這就是我們收益的主要重點，大部分現金都用在了這裡，但我們也會留一點給其他項目。我會把它傳給里克。

Yes. I'll just kind of comment from an operational standpoint. We do want to advance our other projects. I think we've said very consistently that the next stage for JT is getting the permit to go underground. And that's -- there's not really anything to do. We want to spend exploration dollars on early stage, relatively early-stage projects to add more ounces.

是的。我只是從操作的角度發表評論。我們確實希望推進我們的其他項目。我認為我們已經非常一致地表示，JT 的下一個階段是獲得轉入地下的許可。那就是——實際上沒有什麼可做的。我們希望將勘探資金投入早期、相對早期的項目上，以增加更多的黃金產量。

We know we have a high-quality deposit that makes a lot of money that has very high NPV at today's gold price. There's -- it's just not prudent to start or restart exploring the Ellis Zone or a number of the other or any of these other targets that are out there. We know we've got a very prospective piece of ground at JT. So next stage, get the permits. That's going very smoothly. We have a good working relationship with the state of Alaska.

我們知道，我們擁有一個高品質的礦藏，它可以帶來很多利潤，以今天的黃金價格計算，它的淨現值非常高。開始或重新開始探索埃利斯區或其他一些目標區或任何其他目標區都是不明智的。我們知道 JT 擁有一塊非常有前景的土地。下一步，獲得許可證。一切進展非常順利。我們與阿拉斯加州有著良好的工作關係。

These permits, the underground mining permit, is at the state of Alaska. Technically, it's sort of two main permits we need from the Department of Environmental Conservation, and that's a water discharge permit and then the mine operating work. Technically, it's a mine. We're not producing anything, but you're still filling a big hole in the ground, a long hole in the ground.

這些許可證，即地下採礦許可證，位於阿拉斯加州。從技術上講，我們需要從環境保護部獲得兩項主要許可證，即排水許可證和礦山營運許可證。從技術上來說，這是一個地雷。我們什麼都沒生產，但你們仍在填補地面上的一個大洞，一個長長的洞。

So that's the focus at JT. And look, at Lucky Shot, we do want to get a program going and get back underground and start drilling again, but I don't want to do it in sort of fits and spurts. And so that's why we keep saying that the focus is on delivering the hedges, reducing the debt. And when we see sort of a clear window of being able to start and then not stop going at JT -- sorry, at Lucky Shot that's kind of what we're looking for. So be patient, it's not steam.

這就是 JT 的重點。看，在 Lucky Shot，我們確實想啟動一個項目，回到地下，重新開始鑽探，但我不想斷斷續續地做這件事。這就是為什麼我們一直說重點是提供對沖，減少債務。當我們看到一個清晰的窗口，能夠開始並且不會停止在 JT 上前進時——抱歉，在 Lucky Shot 上，這就是我們所尋找的。所以請耐心等待，這不是蒸氣。

The gold is not going anywhere. Gold price keeps going up. So we're -- once we get underground and get to it at Lucky Shot, we can advance things pretty quickly. So I'm not really too worried about the overall time line there.

黃金不會消失。金價持續上漲。因此，一旦我們進入地下並在 Lucky Shot 實現這一目標，我們就可以很快地推進事情。所以我並不太擔心那裡的整體時間表。

Great. I got two quick questions on -- while we're on the topic of Johnson Tract and Lucky Shot. For Johnson Tract, thanks for going through the upcoming milestones. I think that's great. What tonnage potential are you targeting at Johnson Tract?

偉大的。當我們討論 Johnson Tract 和 Lucky Shot 時，我有兩個快速問題。對於 Johnson Tract，感謝您見證即將到來的里程碑。我認為這很棒。你們計劃在 Johnson Tract 建造多大的噸位潛力？

So the initial assessment we did, which is, again, the term S-K 1300 uses same as the 43-101 in Canadian Lingo, targeted a 1,500 ton a day operation, which is -- it's a -- JT, I mean it's a good grade deposit, but it's also just a nice geometry of the deposit from a mining standpoint. It's a pain in the butt to drill because it's -- you got the mountain that's going straight up and the ore deposit that's going straight down. So your drill holes get long and the dip is such that you have to drill parallel to the mountain surface, that's not a good thing to do.

因此，我們所做的初步評估，也就是 S-K 1300 在加拿大語言中的用法與 43-101 相同，目標是每天開採 1,500 噸，也就是說，這是一個 JT，我的意思是它是一個品位較高的礦床，但從採礦的角度來看，它也只是一種良好的礦床幾何形狀。鑽探是一件非常麻煩的事情，因為——山是垂直向上的，而礦床是垂直向下的。因此，鑽孔會變得很長，而且傾斜度很大，以至於您必須與山面平行鑽孔，這不是一件好事。

So that's -- from an exploration standpoint, it's not the greatest geometry, but from a mining standpoint, once you're underground, it's a great geometry because it's a big fat ore body and it's near vertical. So you have -- from an underground mining perspective, relatively -- you've got good long-hole stopes that you can develop. And all of our infrastructure is in unmineralized material, what we call the dacite porphyry. It has like 0 sulfides in it. And so it's great rock to put all your underground development in because the water stays clean.

所以，從勘探的角度來看，這不是最好的幾何形狀，但從採礦的角度來看，一旦你進入地下，這是一個很好的幾何形狀，因為它是一個巨大而肥厚的礦體，而且接近垂直。因此，從地下採礦的角度來看，相對而言，您已經擁有可以開發的良好長孔礦場。我們所有的基礎設施都是由未礦化材料構成的，我們稱之為英安斑岩。它裡面幾乎不含硫化物。因此，它是進行地下開發的絕佳岩石，因為水質保持清潔。

The big fault that separates the mineralized from the unmineralized is an aquitard or aquiclude. So the water -- mineralized water that is tainted stays on one side and you just keep the water separate. You put a curtain up if you need to and you can develop the ore body from an environmental standpoint very cleanly and not have a lot of concerns about water contamination.

將礦化層與非礦化層分隔開的大斷層是隔水層或隔水層。因此，被污染的水－礦化水留在一邊，你只需將水分開即可。如果你需要的話，你可以拉上窗簾，這樣你就可以從環境的角度非常乾淨地開發礦體，而不必擔心水污染。

Mother nature is doing that on her own right now. That's how we find these deposits. They're metal anomalies, which means there's metal going into the creeks. We just don't want to touch it because once we touch it, it's our water.

大自然母親現在獨自做這件事。這就是我們發現這些礦藏的方法。它們是金屬異常，這意味著有金屬進入了小溪。我們只是不想碰它，因為一旦我們碰它，它就是我們的水。

Fair enough. Fair enough. I got one question about Lucky Shot as well. I noticed you mentioned a royalty acquisition of an existing 0.5% NSR for 250,000. Just what does this mean for me and the folks in the room?

很公平。很公平。我也有一個關於 Lucky Shot 的問題。我注意到您提到以 250,000 美元收購現有的 0.5% NSR 的特許權使用費。這對我和房間裡的人來說意味著什麼？

Yes. So as we work towards transitioning Lucky Shot from an exploration project to a mine, and that's getting the drilling done. But obviously, we see that as all moving forward when we get the right time and that will be let's get the hedges out of the way and things like that. This is -- if we can buy a royalty for a good value, that means we don't have to pay it to -- when we're in production, we don't have to pay that royalty to somebody.

是的。因此，我們致力於將 Lucky Shot 從勘探項目轉變為礦山項目，並完成鑽探工作。但顯然，我們認為，當我們獲得正確的時間時，一切都會向前推進，那就是讓我們消除障礙等等。也就是說——如果我們可以以合理的價格購買版稅，那就意味著我們不必支付——當我們進行生產時，我們不必向某人支付版稅。

So it's pretty valuable to have that, and we'll basically just extinguish it because we'll own it. So there's no sense in paying it to ourselves. That's just paperwork. Mike's got plenty of that. So don't read it as we're becoming a royalty company sort of thing.

因此，擁有它是非常有價值的，我們基本上會消滅它，因為我們擁有它。因此，我們沒有必要為自己支付這筆費用。那隻是文書工作。麥克有很多這樣的人。所以不要讀它，因為我們正在成為一家特許權公司。

That's not the intent. it's just if we can buy out the underlying royalty owners and pay them a good value, good value for them because they get the money upfront. They don't have to worry about any of the ongoing risk, the operational risk and what have you. That just makes sense to us.

這不是我們的意圖。我們只是想買下底層特許權所有者，並向他們支付一筆不錯的價值，這對他們來說是一筆不錯的價值，因為他們可以預先拿到錢。他們不必擔心任何持續的風險、營運風險等等。這對我們來說很有意義。

Great. While we're on Mike's paperwork, actually, I do have a question for you. I'll talk about carry trade mechanics. So I know you reduced your hedge book from 74,800 to 62,900 ounces or somewhere around there. Curious, what's your philosophy on the optimal hedge ratio as production progresses?

偉大的。當我們討論麥克的文書工作時，實際上，我確實有一個問題要問你。我將談論套利交易機制。所以我知道您將對沖帳簿從 74,800 盎司減少到 62,900 盎司左右。好奇的是，隨著生產進展，您對最佳對沖比率的看法是什麼？

Well, the optimal hedge ratio doesn't really change. It all mirrors what was in the original feasibility study, and that's how the lender structured it. And unfortunate for us is it got structured in a way that it does things in quarterly -- on a quarterly basis, but we don't deliver gold on a quarterly basis. We deliver it on a weekly basis, if anything. Some weeks are bigger while we're in the middle of a campaign, whereas some are smaller, but there's a delivery every week.

嗯，最佳對沖比率其實並沒有改變。這一切都反映了原始可行性研究的內容，這就是貸方建構它的方式。不幸的是，它的結構是按季度進行的——但我們並不按季度交付黃金。如果有的話，我們每週都會交付一次。有些星期我們正處於活動期間，出貨量較大，而有些星期出貨量較小，但每週都會有出貨。

So the objective I try to do to, again, limit risk, ensure that I have enough gold by the time that delivery is due is when a campaign starts, you kind of have some -- you have a couple of weeks when it starts where you're waiting for that first big shipment. But when that first shipment comes, we deliver 100% of that gold into the carry trade and that carry trade will finish -- we will fill that next hedge delivery up within the first three shipments usually.

因此，我嘗試實現的目標是再次限制風險，確保在交貨時我有足夠的黃金，當活動開始時，你會有一些時間 - 你有幾個星期的時間等待第一批大批貨物。但是當第一批貨物到達時，我們會將 100% 的黃金交付給套利交易，並且套利交易將會結束——我們通常會在前三批貨物中完成下一次對沖交付。

And then for the final two shipments, I'll just sell those at 100% of spot price with no carry trade. So we're always ahead of the hedge delivery. And in a rising market, it works well, obviously. But if the gold price kind of starts to dip, there's a small hit. But this just ensures we're never going to be short delivering that gold and forced to buy it in the open market at a month later when gold price could swing again.

最後兩批貨物，我將以現貨價格的 100% 出售，不進行套利交易。因此，我們總是領先於對沖交割。在市場上漲的情況下，它顯然運作良好。但如果金價開始下跌，就會受到小幅衝擊。但這恰恰確保了我們永遠不會缺少黃金，並被迫在一個月後金價再次波動時在公開市場上購買。

So that's kind of my approach, right or wrong, I guess, but it's worked so far.

這就是我的方法，無論對錯，但到目前為止它都是有效的。

And the objective is to deliver the hedges and have full exposure to the upside or downside. I mean, obviously, what we don't want to do as a junior company is try to play or game the market on guessing where gold is going. That's just not the role of a junior mining company. And equity owners of Contango shouldn't want us to make bets, I mean go to Vegas...

其目標是實現對沖並充分承受上漲或下跌的風險。我的意思是，顯然，作為一家初級公司，我們不想做的就是試圖透過猜測黃金的走向來玩弄市場。這並不是一家小型礦業公司的職責。而 Contango 的股權所有者不應該希望我們下注，我的意思是去拉斯維加斯...

Yes. When we have a stronger balance sheet, Romeo, we would take a more sophisticated approach to this. But while we're at these levels and managing the lenders, it's all about just removing the risk and trying not to take any big swings for the fences at the cost of being wrong.

是的。羅密歐，當我們擁有更強大的資產負債表時，我們會採取更複雜的方法來解決這個問題。但是，當我們處於這些水平並管理貸款人時，我們所做的只是消除風險，並儘量避免以犯錯為代價採取任何大膽的行動。

Yes. No, I appreciate your take on that. Rick, I'm hoping -- and I know there's a lot of questions in the chat, I'll get to them just in a second. I want to zoom out for a second. With $58.2 million in Q2 gold revenue, you've emerged as a mid-tier gold producer.

是的。不，我很欣賞你對此的看法。瑞克，我希望──我知道聊天中有很多問題，我馬上就能回答。我想把鏡頭縮小一秒鐘。憑藉第二季 5,820 萬美元的黃金收入，你們已成為中型黃金生產商。

And I'm curious how you see Contango in that class compared to other mid-tier gold producers, especially with rate cuts supporting -- or potential rate cuts supporting higher gold prices. Where do you see Contango fitting in with the club?

我很好奇，與其他中型黃金生產商相比，您如何看待該級別的正價差，尤其是在降息支持——或者潛在的降息支持金價上漲的情況下。您認為 Contango 與俱樂部有何關係？

Well, we're a junior company. I'm not sure we're mid-tier yet. I would actually describe us as a junior producer. But again, we're making more money than we're spending. And that's unique.

嗯，我們是一家初級公司。我不確定我們是否已經達到中級水準。我實際上會把我們描述為初級製作人。但話說回來，我們賺的錢比花的錢還多。這是獨一無二的。

If you look at most other junior producers, that's not the case. And that's delivering into our hedges. And so once we get free of the hedges, this is a rocket ship. So that's -- and that's where we're aiming to. We're going to do that prudently.

如果你看看大多數其他初級生產商，情況就不是這樣了。這就是我們的對沖。一旦我們擺脫了樹籬，這就像一艘火箭。這就是──這就是我們的目標。我們將謹慎地這樣做。

And again, we're not going to -- as Mike just said, we're not going to swing from the fences and make any big bets here. But we do believe in the gold price. If you don't, you shouldn't be in the gold business. And we're hedged because the banks made us to hedge, it wasn't part of the strategy.

再說一次，我們不會——正如麥克剛才所說，我們不會在這裡孤注一擲地進行任何大賭注。但我們確實相信黃金價格。如果你不這樣做，你就不應該從事黃金生意。我們進行對沖是因為銀行讓我們進行對沖，這不是策略的一部分。

And so -- and that's just the way it works for a junior company. I think in terms of where do we fit in the gold space, I can't think of another junior company producing and making money selling gold that only has 12 million shares outstanding. So we're definitely a bit of a unique beast. Our model is unique. We see a few other want to be copycats out there saying they're going to do a DSO thing. And I think it's a great model. So hats off and if they can make it work, that's great.

所以——這就是初級公司的運作方式。我認為，就我們在黃金領域的地位而言，我想不出還有哪家小型公司生產黃金並透過銷售黃金賺錢，而流通股數卻只有 1,200 萬股。所以我們確實是一個有點獨特的物種。我們的模式是獨一無二的。我們看到其他一些人也想效仿，說他們要做 DSO 的事情。我認為這是一個很棒的模型。所以，如果他們能夠成功，那就太好了。

We've made it work. So we know it works. And it's really all about the assets. I mean the assets have those three criteria that we talked about. They got to have grade.

我們已經讓它發揮作用了。所以我們知道它有效。而這其實都與資產有關。我的意思是資產符合我們討論過的三個標準。他們必須有等級。

They got to be close to infrastructure, so you don't have a huge amount of capital to get it done. And they've got to be relatively simple projects from a permitting standpoint, so you can get them done quickly.

它們必須靠近基礎設施，因此你不需要大量的資金來完成它。從許可的角度來看，它們必須是相對簡單的項目，因此您可以快速完成它們。

Obviously, because of that, then the capital is not as high as if you were going to build your own mill and all that. When I look back at Manh Choh and we had a study that said basically, it was going to cost $500 million to build our own mill and develop the project there. And the market just doesn't support that. It just -- it's just too small a deposit, even as high quality as it. It's high quality, but it's just -- it's too small for the market to say, well, we're willing to risk $500 million of ours, whether it's debt or equity, to let a junior startup make a try to get this into production.

顯然，正因為如此，所需的資本就不會像建造自己的工廠那麼高。當我回顧 Manh Choh 時，我們進行了一項研究，結果表明，建造我們自己的工廠並在那裡開發項目將花費 5 億美元。但市場並不支持這種做法。只是──它的礦藏太少了，儘管它的品質很高。它的品質很高，但是——對於市場來說太小了，我們無法說，好吧，我們願意冒 5 億美元的風險，無論是債務還是股權，讓一家初級新創公司嘗試將其投入生產。

There's more belief if you have a 5 million or 10 million ounce deposit, that will eventually work because frankly, if it doesn't, one of the intermediates or majors will come along and fix it after it's got down to the trash heap.

如果你有 500 萬或 1000 萬盎司的礦藏，人們會更加相信它最終會成功，因為坦白說，如果沒有成功，那麼在它被扔進垃圾堆後，中級礦商或大型礦商之一就會出現並修復它。

That is usually how they operate.

他們通常都是這樣運作的。

And I mean the market is littered with junior want to be start-ups that said we're going to develop our 10 million ounce gold deposit and they don't, maybe Newmont or Barrick does eventually or somebody else. But yes, we don't want to be one of those. So we're going to stay prudent. And we like our low share count. We've been told several times we should just roll it forward 10:1 or something like that and be happy with a $2 stock.

我的意思是，市場上充斥著想要成為新創公司的初級公司，他們說要開發我們的 1000 萬盎司黃金礦藏，但他們沒有這樣做，也許最終會由 Newmont 或 Barrick 或其他公司來做。但是的，我們不想成為其中之一。所以我們會保持謹慎。我們喜歡低份額數。我們曾多次被告知，我們應該以 10:1 或類似的比例將其向前推進，並對 2 美元的股票感到滿意。

And no, my objective is I'd like to have a three-digit stock price someday.

不，我的目標是有一天我的股價能達到三位數。

And somebody in the chat actually agrees with you. They posted near the beginning of the hour they see the stock at $100, So to say they're printing money, the model is brilliant. So somebody in the chat agrees with you. Curious, as we jump just before I get to those chat questions, when are you going to provide guidance on the 2026 production at Manh Choh? And just generally, what's -- what are the upcoming catalysts for Contango?

聊天中確實有人同意你的觀點。他們在接近整點時發布消息稱，他們看到股價達到 100 美元，所以說他們正在印鈔票，這個模型很精彩。所以聊天中有人同意你的觀點。好奇的是，在我回答這些聊天問題之前，您什麼時候會為 Manh Choh 2026 年的生產提供指導？總的來說，期貨溢價即將出現的催化劑是什麼？

Yes. So guidance on '26, typically, the plan and budget is approved in November time frame. So we won't really see anything definitive other than the general life of mine kind of guidance that we also give out. But -- and I think it's -- we're going to stick to the plan. And this is Kinross.

是的。因此，關於 26 的指導，通常計劃和預算會在 11 月的時間範圍內獲得批准。因此，除了我們給出的關於我生活的一般指導之外，我們不會看到任何明確的訊息。但是——我認為——我們將堅持這個計劃。這是金羅斯。

Kinross, they don't swing for the fences either. They're going to keep it on the straight and narrow.

金羅斯，他們也不會全力以赴。他們會堅持正道。

Look, I mean, the mining is going smoothly, the hauling is going smoothly and the mills dialed in. So steady as they go. Fort Knox has never looked better as an operation from Kinross' perspective on their financial disclosures. So if they're happy, we're happy.

你看，我的意思是，採礦進展順利，運輸進展順利，工廠也正常運作。他們走得非常穩健。從金羅斯財務揭露的角度來看，諾克斯堡的行動從未像現在這樣順利。所以，如果他們高興，我們也高興。

Here we go. Perfect. Let me get into some of the questions in the chat. So Tate Sullivan right at the beginning of the hour asked how long will Campaign 3 last and potential timing of the check from the JV?

開始了。完美的。讓我來談談聊天中的一些問題。因此，泰特·沙利文 (Tate Sullivan) 在一開始就詢問，第三次競選將持續多久，以及合資企業可能何時發放支票？

So campaign is roughly three weeks. And Mike, you probably ought to comment on when...

因此活動大約持續三週。麥克，你可能應該評論一下什麼時候…

Yes. I would expect that distribution should come in late September is my best guess. It's usually kind of right near the end of the campaign when they're 89% done.

是的。我預計分發將在九月下旬進行，這是我最好的猜測。通常是在活動即將結束時，即完成 89% 的時候。

Great. CW Donahue from the chat asks, for Johnson Tract, is there still a Beluga whale lawsuit issue? Where is the status of that?

偉大的。聊天室裡的 CW Donahue 問道，對於 Johnson Tract 來說，是否還存在白鯨訴訟問題？其現狀如何？

Yes. So the Center for Biodiversity and Cook Inletkeepers filed a lawsuit against the US Army Corps of Engineers for granting our 404-permit last year. And so it's -- basically, it's in federal court. We have one federal judge in Alaska.

是的。因此，生物多樣性中心和庫克灣保護區管理員對美國陸軍工程兵團去年授予我們 404 許可證提起了訴訟。所以 — — 基本上，這是在聯邦法院。我們在阿拉斯加有一名聯邦法官。

We're supposed to have three. Congress hasn't appointed any of Trump's federal judge appointees. That's a DC, I can't say that on the air, but that's DC's -- that's a swamp issue. And so she has 550 -- our lone federal judge has 550 cases. to hear.

我們應該有三個。國會尚未任命川普任命的任何聯邦法官。那是 DC，我不能在廣播中這麼說，但那是 DC 的——那是沼澤問題。因此，我們唯一的聯邦法官要審理 550 起案件。

So basically, yes, the lawsuit is filed, and we've weighed in and joined the lawsuit, and that's the status of it. So that's -- I don't really know -- I can't really comment much more than that.

所以基本上，是的，訴訟已經提起，我們已經介入並加入了訴訟，這就是它的現狀。所以——我真的不知道——我無法發表更多評論。

Perfect. One question from the chat, and I'll throw on a little bit in addition to myself, asked what allowed -- I know we already touched on it, but just for clarity, what allowed the ASIC for second quarter to be lower than expected? And my addition, how are you tracking generally towards the sub-$1,625 target?

完美的。聊天中有一個問題，除了我自己之外，我還會提出一點，是什麼原因導致 - 我知道我們已經談過這個問題，但只是為了清楚起見，是什麼原因導致第二季度的 ASIC 低於預期？另外，您整體上如何實現低於 1,625 美元的目標？

Do you want me to start this one, Rick?

你想讓我開始這個嗎，瑞克？

Yes. Go ahead, Mike.

是的。繼續吧，麥克。

Yes. So well, as you know, in Alaska, the weather gets much nicer in the summer. So at the beginning of the year, you didn't have much exploration going on, and we just hadn't planned to be purchasing many of the trucks at that time. So Q1 was very low. Q2 came in lower than, I guess, internal guidance, even though we kind of delivered on purchasing these trucks during the quarter and the exploration. So it obviously increased -- from Q1 to Q2, it went up.

是的。所以，正如你所知，阿拉斯加的夏天氣候要好得多。因此，在年初，我們並沒有進行太多的探索，而且我們當時也沒有計劃購買很多卡車。因此 Q1 非常低。我猜，儘管我們在本季完成了這些卡車的購買和探索，但第二季的業績還是低於內部預期。因此它顯然增加了——從第一季到第二季度，它上升了。

And we expect Q3 to be consistent with Q2. It could actually be a little bit less just due to how much time we'll be doing our third campaign during the quarter because if we're not doing our campaign, that means Fort Knox is doing theirs. And the least amount of time we spend in a quarter on our campaign, it really impacts our processing costs and our admin costs that we have there.

我們預計第三季將與第二季保持一致。實際上，這個數字可能會少一點，這取決於我們在本季要花多少時間進行第三次活動，因為如果我們不進行我們的活動，那就意味著諾克斯堡正在進行他們的活動。我們在一個季度中花在活動上的最少時間確實會影響我們的處理成本和管理成本。

So I expect the cost to be consistent because we still have exploration. We still have truck purchases happening during this quarter. So I think you're going to see -- I expect you're going to see ASIC kind of stay consistent, but I do think we will come under hopefully, by the -- below the $1,625 just based on how we're tracking. Fourth quarter will be slightly -- should be slightly higher just due to the size of that planned campaign. So you might see it creep up a little bit in Q4, but we do definitely hope and plan to come in below the $1,625.

因此我預計成本將保持一致，因為我們仍在探索。本季我們仍有卡車採購。所以我認為你會看到——我預計你會看到 ASIC 保持一致，但我確實認為，根據我們的跟踪情況，我們希望能夠低於 1,625 美元。由於計劃中的活動規模較大，第四季度的銷售額應該會略高一些。因此，您可能會看到它在第四季度略有上漲，但我們確實希望併計劃將其控制在 1,625 美元以下。

Rick, anything to add?

瑞克，還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. No, I think -- yes, I mean, in general, we get more, like I say, weather days both in terms of truck transportation traffic. And in the wintertime, obviously, you get the blowing snow and things like that, that slow things down, get super cold, that slows things down. And then you can -- if it's really cold and there's ice in the stockpile, that slows the mill down. So those are kind of the sensitive points, and they all occur in the wintertime, which is not too surprising.

是的。不，我認為——是的，我的意思是，總的來說，就像我說的，就卡車運輸交通而言，天氣好的日子更多。而在冬季，顯然，你會遇到吹雪之類的情況，這會使一切變得緩慢，變得非常寒冷，這會使一切變得緩慢。然後你就可以——如果天氣真的很冷，並且庫存中有冰，那麼磨坊的速度就會減慢。這些都是敏感點，而且它們都發生在冬季，這並不太令人驚訝。

Summertime is kind of a breeze, but we do have these capital expenditures that you do tend to do in the summertime, which is exploration and buying and -- putting orders in for trucks and things like that.

夏季是輕鬆的季節，但我們確實有一些在夏季往往會進行的資本支出，即勘探、購買和訂購卡車等。

The other item I'll add is this is always a function of your ounces sold during the year. And so far, we are tracking kind of slightly ahead of our guided production of 60,000 ounces for the year. So for every ounce more than what we guided, that's going to bring down your cost because it's a fixed cost-driven operation. So all those factors, when you put them together, that's why we kind of expect we'll come in under, but we'll see how we get at the end of Q3.

我要補充的另一點是，這始終是您一年內銷售的盎司數的函數。到目前為止，我們的產量略高於我們今年 60,000 盎司的指導產量。因此，每多出一盎司，就會降低您的成本，因為這是一個固定成本驅動的操作。因此，當把所有這些因素放在一起時，這就是我們預計我們會進入該階段的原因，但我們會看看第三季末的情況如何。

Kinross again, they're going to have guidance that they're going to meet or beat.

再次，金羅斯，他們將得到他們將要面對或擊敗的指導。

Great. That steady, reliable good news. I don't get a lot of this in the mining industry. SK from the chat had three questions, so I'll throw them to you one at a time. Are there plans to monetize the Onyx shares?

偉大的。那是穩定、可靠的好消息。我在採礦業中很少見到這樣的情況。聊天中的 SK 有三個問題，所以我將逐一向您提問。是否有計劃將 Onyx 股票貨幣化？

Short answer is yes. It's more about timing. We like what they're doing. And so we're -- we'll be patient. And obviously, we have a good working relationship with Onyx and the people at Onyx.

簡短的回答是肯定的。這更多的是關於時機的問題。我們喜歡他們所做的事情。所以我們會保持耐心。顯然，我們與 Onyx 以及 Onyx 的員工有著良好的工作關係。

So we're not going to torpedo on it at all.

所以我們根本不會對其進行破壞。

And the only thing I'd add to that is some of those shares are still under escrow from when they were originally issued to HighGold. And then we're also in kind of a lockup on what we can do with them. So they're -- it's not as easy as just saying we're going to sell them, but we're obviously going to consider what options are out there and just watch closely.

我唯一要補充的是，其中一些股票自最初發行給 HighGold 以來仍處於託管狀態。然後，我們也不知道該如何利用它們。所以他們——這並不像說要賣掉它們那麼簡單，但我們顯然會考慮有哪些選擇，並密切關注。

Great. He also asks as we go into conference season, what's the message for 2026? What will you be telling folks at the conferences in September, October?

偉大的。他還問道，隨著我們進入會議季節，2026 年的信息是什麼？您將在九月和十月的會議上告訴大家甚麼？

Basically, a lot of it is going to focus on drilling underground at JT -- sorry, at Lucky Shot and getting underground started at JT. We're already -- we're working on the road. We've been doing some grubbing and things -- just getting things ready to get underway in earnest next year. So obviously, the continuing -- steady as she goes in terms of delivering the hedges and reducing the debt and freeing up cash flow to advance or aggressively advance our other two projects.

基本上，大部分工作將集中在 JT 的地下鑽探——抱歉，是在 Lucky Shot 進行，並在 JT 開始地下鑽探。我們已經──正在修路。我們一直在做一些挖掘工作——為明年認真開始做準備。因此，顯然，她在提供對沖、減少債務和釋放現金流以推進或積極推進我們的另外兩個項目方面將繼續穩步前進。

I mean both projects, what we envision for Lucky Shot is a mine -- a resource in the 400,000 or 500,000 ounce range with -- once the drilling is completed and a mine plan that can deliver on start-up 30,000 to 40,000 ounces at really good margins because again, the grades -- on a mine diluted grade, it's going to be above 10 grams. So -- and we've got the rail there. I just had a conversation with the Head of Alaska Railroad earlier this week. They're eager to look at transporting our ore in boxes.

我的意思是，這兩個項目，我們對 Lucky Shot 的設想是，一旦鑽探完成，礦山資源量將在 400,000 或 500,000 盎司範圍內，並且礦山計劃可以在啟動時以非常好的利潤率交付 30,000 至 40,000 盎司，因為再次強調，礦山稀釋品位。所以——我們在那裡有鐵路。本週早些時候我剛剛與阿拉斯加鐵路公司負責人進行了交談。他們渴望看到用箱子運送我們的礦石。

Again, from a mining standpoint and a transportation standpoint, very simple plan. We're not -- take advantage of the railroad, it's 1/3 of the cost of trucking. So every mile or kilometer we can put on a rail car is less than -- we've got -- we're still evaluating where Lucky Shot ore would go, a number of options there. And then meanwhile, get started on getting the underground progressed at JT. Again, rough numbers, it's about a year to get the underground. It's 1.5 kilometers of underground to get built to get set up to do the drilling.

再次，從採礦和運輸的角度來看，這是一個非常簡單的計劃。我們不會——利用鐵路，它的成本是卡車運輸的 1/3。因此，我們能用火車運輸的每一英里或公里都少於——我們得到的——我們仍在評估 Lucky Shot 礦石的去向，那裡有很多選擇。同時，開始推進 JT 的地下工作。再說一遍，粗略估計，進入地下大約需要一年時間。需要建造地下 1.5 公里的井，以便鑽探。

And the other thing about Johnson Tract, it's already with a roughly 1 million ounce gold equivalent resource there at 9.5 grams. That's a great deposit. It's open at depth, and we just can't drill at depth because of the geometry. So once we get underground, we can drill it at depth, and we can see is it 1.5 million ounces? Is it 2 million ounces?

關於約翰遜特拉克特的另一件事是，那裡已經擁有約 100 萬盎司黃金當量資源，重量為 9.5 克。這是一筆很大的存款。它的深處是開放的，但由於幾何形狀的原因，我們無法在深處進行鑽探。因此，一旦我們進入地下，我們就可以進行深度鑽探，我們可以看到它是否有 150 萬盎司？是 200 萬盎司嗎？

It's more than 1 million ounces. So we know it's open. So I'm very excited about getting underground, getting the exploration work underway.

超過100萬盎司。所以我們知道它是開放的。因此，我對進入地下、進行勘探工作感到非常興奮。

Great. That's a good story for Beaver Creek and Denver. They also asked, is there any thought been given to getting into ETFs like the GDXJ?

偉大的。對於 Beaver Creek 和丹佛來說，這是一個好故事。他們還問道，有沒有考慮過投資 GDXJ 之類的 ETF？

Mike, do you want to take that or I guess, to be determined, I mean I'm not frankly surprised we're not on it. I guess that would be my response. We're part of the Russell 2000. That's -- it's a much bigger index. So I shouldn't say bigger, broader. It's not gold specific, obviously. Probably something we got to take a look at it because I'm a bit surprised we're not in it.

麥克，你想接受這個嗎？或者我猜，還有待確定，我的意思是，坦白說，我並不驚訝我們沒有接受這個。我想這就是我的回應。我們是羅素 2000 指數的一部分。這是一個更大的指數。所以我不該說更大、更廣。顯然，這並不是針對黃金的。我們可能需要看一下它，因為我有點驚訝我們不在其中。

Sure. Yes, they said the same thing in the comments, it makes no sense that producing junior miner isn't in the largest passive ETF, so something interesting. Somebody with a very colorful username asks, could we expect the same earnings for the next few quarters if gold stays in this range all year?

當然。是的，他們在評論中說了同樣的話，生產初級礦業公司不在最大的被動 ETF 中是沒有意義的，所以這很有趣。一位用戶名非常有趣的人問道，如果黃金價格全年保持在這個範圍內，我們是否可以預期未來幾季的收益相同？

I guess I could start. I think Q3 will be consistent with Q2. I think Q4 might drop off a little bit, but Q4 will basically summarize the whole year and keep us -- we plan to have that kind of in line with our guidance that we had for the year. But I think Q3 for sure, if not better.

我想我可以開始了。我認為第三季將與第二季保持一致。我認為第四季度可能會略有下降，但第四季度基本上將總結全年並讓我們保持 - 我們計劃將其與今年的指導保持一致。但我認為第三季肯定會更好。

Great. And I will ask you guys one last question, which should give everybody in the chat a chance to ask their last questions before we wrap. Just curious, what are you most excited for, for the rest of the year? Rick, I'll start with you.

偉大的。我將問你們最後一個問題，這應該會讓聊天中的每個人都有機會在結束之前提出最後一個問題。只是好奇，對於今年剩下的時間，您最期待什麼？瑞克，我先從你開始。

I'd say -- it's just -- I hate to say steady as she goes, but it's kind of -- it is kind of that. And what I really would like to figure out is to get underground at Johnson Tract and get -- sorry, get underground at Lucky Shot and get the drill started because drilling is exciting. And it's a great deposit, and it's very simple. We like simple. So the sooner we can get underground and start drilling -- once we're underground, we can keep going.

我想說——這只是——我不想說她進展順利，但有點——有點那樣。我真正想弄清楚的是進入約翰遜特拉克特 (Johnson Tract) 的地下，然後 — — 抱歉，進入 Lucky Shot 的地下，然後開始鑽探，因為鑽探很令人興奮。這是一筆很大的存款，而且非常簡單。我們喜歡簡單。因此，我們越早進入地下並開始鑽探——一旦進入地下，我們就可以繼續前進。

But I don't want to make -- as I said before, I don't want to start and then have to stop because we've -- the hedges are -- gold price has gone down, and we're scrambling for money and stuff like that. It just we want to make sure we've got kind of a clear path here and I said it's not steam, so it's not going anywhere. And we've got -- it still fits our five-year plan.

但我不想——正如我之前所說，我不想開始然後不得不停止，因為我們——對沖是——黃金價格已經下跌，我們正在爭奪金錢和諸如此類的東西。我們只是想確保我們在這裡有一條清晰的道路，我說這不是蒸汽，所以它不會去任何地方。而且我們已經——它仍然符合我們的五年計劃。

Great. Mike, what keeps you buzzed for the rest of the year?

偉大的。麥克，今年剩下的時間裡什麼事情讓你興奮不已？

It's a pretty boring answer, but I guess my response is just to kind of continue to like steady as she goes, deliver these ounces -- delivering these hedges and pay the debt down, but to actually see our balance sheet delever and come down and bring the liabilities down. Like that's kind of what excites me, which is kind of a boring answer (inaudible) answer, but that's kind of -- I think by the end of this year, it's going to be a very impressive balance sheet with strong earnings.

這是一個相當無聊的答案，但我想我的回應只是繼續像她那樣保持穩定，提供這些盎司 - 提供這些對沖並償還債務，但實際上看到我們的資產負債表去槓桿並下降並降低負債。就像這讓我很興奮一樣，這是一個有點無聊的答案（聽不清楚）答案，但那是 - 我認為到今年年底，這將是一份非常令人印象深刻的資產負債表，收益強勁。

Awesome. One last question from the chat, and I know you might be bored of this question because I've asked you, I think, on six webinars in the last year. But are there plans in the future to reward shareholders with the dividend?

驚人的。聊天中的最後一個問題，我知道你可能對這個問題感到厭煩，因為我認為去年我在六次網路研討會上問過你。但未來是否有計劃以股利獎勵股東？

Yes. Again, I love that thought. It's definitely not at this year and probably in all honestly, not a next year thing. But yes, I mean, that is definitely one of the things we're focused on is delivering shareholder value and having a low share count is part of that. And whether it's -- whether in the end, if it ends up being a dividend or share buyback, those are things that longer term, we definitely want to grow the company. We definitely believe in the gold price. We are looking at other opportunities.

是的。再次，我喜歡這個想法。這肯定不是今年的事情，坦白說，也不是明年的事。但是的，我的意思是，這絕對是我們關注的事情之一，即實現股東價值，而低股份數量是其中的一部分。不管最終是分紅還是股票回購，這些都是長期的事情，我們絕對希望公司能夠發展。我們絕對相信黃金價格。我們正在尋找其他機會。

I think I mentioned before, we're looking at -- we want to find a home for Lucky Shot and JT ores, and we're looking at a number of options there. So kind of stay tuned to that space. Obviously, we're under CA with a number of groups, so we're -- but we are definitely -- that's a bit of a longer-range plan. But if we can achieve our five-year plan of producing -- getting JT and Lucky Shot into production and getting up to a 200,000 ounce a year production profile and keep our share count low, I mean, again, that's a rocket ship. So that's what we want to build here.

我想我之前提到過，我們正在尋找——我們想為 Lucky Shot 和 JT 礦石找到一個歸宿，我們正在那裡尋找多種選擇。因此請繼續關注該領域。顯然，我們與許多團體一起受 CA 管轄，因此——但我們肯定——這是一個更長遠的計劃。但是，如果我們能夠實現我們的五年生產計劃——讓 JT 和 Lucky Shot 投入生產，並達到每年 20 萬盎司的產量，同時保持較低的份額，我的意思是，這將是一飛沖天。這就是我們想要在這裡建造的。

Awesome. Well, on that note, I'll wrap up for today. Rick, Mike, thanks so much for running through questions and talking about the last quarter. Everybody in the chat, thank you so much for participating, everybody who is in the room. If you have any additional questions, you can always reach out to info@contangoore or feel free to respond right to the e-mail that got you to this room.

驚人的。好了，今天的分享就到此結束。里克、麥克，非常感謝你們解答問題並談論上個季度的情況。聊天室裡的每個人，非常感謝你們的參與，感謝房間裡的每個人。如果您有任何其他問題，您可以隨時聯絡 info@contangoore 或直接回覆帶您進入此房間的電子郵件。

I'll make sure that question gets to the Contango team. But thank you so much. Hope everybody has a great afternoon.

我會確保這個問題傳達給 Contango 團隊。但還是非常感謝。希望大家有個愉快的下午。

Thank you.

謝謝。