콘탱고 실버 앤 골드(CTGO) 2026년 2분기 실적 발표 콘퍼런스 콜: 헤지 종료 속 가이던스 유지

핵심 요약

• 콘탱고 실버 앤 골드(Contango Silver & Gold)의 만초(Manh Choh) 광산 생산 지분 30%는 2026년 2분기 기준 약 8,900온스였다. 회사는 온스당 평균 4,328달러의 금 현물 가격으로 8,627온스를 매각했다.
• 경영진은 2026년 지분 생산량 가이던스를 4만~4만5,000온스로 유지했으며, 현재 생산량은 4만1,000온스를 약간 상회할 것으로 추정하고 있다. 3차 및 4차 캠페인은 각각 약 1만2,000온스를 생산할 것으로 예상된다.
• 상반기 현금 비용은 온스당 2,665달러, 총유지비용(AISC)은 온스당 2,830달러였다. 품위가 낮은 북측 피트 광석 대신 품위가 높은 남측 피트 광석이 투입됨에 따라 경영진은 연간 현금 비용 목표를 온스당 약 1,900~2,000달러로 계속 유지하고 있다.
• 7월에 헤지 북이 완전히 청산되었다. 경영진은 3분기가 모든 온스가 현물 가격으로 판매되는 회사 역사상 첫 분기가 될 것이라 밝혔으며, 3,100달러의 풋옵션이 하방 위험을 방어해 준다.
• 6월 30일 기준 현금 보유액은 총 8,900만 달러다. 경영진은 금 가격이 온스당 4,400달러를 유지할 경우 만초 합작법인으로부터 받는 2026년 현금 배당금이 6,000만 달러를 초과할 것으로 예상하고 있다.
• 회사는 럭키 샷(Lucky Shot), 킷솔트 밸리(Kitsault Valley), 존슨 트랙(Johnson Tract) 프로젝트를 동시에 추진 중이며, 럭키 샷의 타당성 조사는 2027년으로 예정되어 있고 킷솔트 밸리에서는 5대의 시추기가 가동 중이다.

주요 재무 데이터

사업 및 영업 실적

만초

상반기 생산량에는 되메우기 전 광상 모델 외부에서 회수한 온스를 포함해 북측 피트의 낮아진 품위가 반영되었다. 합작법인은 하반기에 남측 피트로 이동했으며, 경영진은 더 많은 채굴량(톤)과 대폭 높아진 품위를 기대하고 있다.

남측 피트의 선행 박토작업은 상반기 동안 대부분 완료되었다. 경영진은 이러한 시차 효과가 처리량 및 품위 증가와 맞물려 하반기 단위당 비용의 대폭적인 감소를 이끌 것으로 예상한다.

금 가격 온스당 4,400달러와 현금 비용 약 2,000달러를 기준으로 경영진은 온스당 약 2,400달러의 마진을 제시했다. 다만 만초 합작법인이 향후 수개월간의 생산을 위한 현금을 유지하기 때문에, 회사는 단순한 온스당 마진보다는 합작법인 배당금에 초점을 맞추고 있다.

럭키 샷

콘탱고는 7월 1일 알래스카 하드록(Alaska Hardrock) 인수 거래를 완료하여 특허 광업권, 부동산 및 장비를 추가하는 동시에 2%의 순제련소리턴(NSR) 로열티를 매입했다. 경영진은 이번 거래를 통해 해당 지역에 대한 실질적인 통제권을 확보했으며 럭키 샷의 광산 잠재력에 대한 확신이 반영된 것이라고 설명했다.

최종 지하 품위 분석 결과, 육안으로 금이 확인되는 톤당 972그램의 고품위 착광 구간이 포함되었다. 콜먼과 럭키 샷 사이에서는 헬리콥터로 지원되는 2대의 지상 시추기가 시추 작업을 진행 중이며, 지하 시추는 이달 말 재개될 예정이다.

이 프로그램은 직접 출하 광석(DSO) 타당성 조사를 위한 지질, 지반공학 및 품위 분석 데이터를 수집하고 있다. 경영진은 톤당 약 10~14그램 품위의 40만~50만 온스 금 매장량 확보를 목표로 하고 있다. 시추 작업은 2027년 3월경까지 계속될 예정이며, 타당성 조사는 2027년으로 계획되어 있다.

회사는 불모의 화강섬록암을 제거하여 희석 광산 품위를 높이고 운송량을 줄이기 위한 광석 선별 검토도 진행 중이다. 포트 녹스(Fort Knox)가 유력한 처리 대안 중 하나이지만, 경영진은 다른 대안들도 검토 중이라고 밝혔다.

킷솔트 밸리

6월 말까지 계획된 4만 미터 시추 프로그램 중 3만5,000미터 이상이 완료되었다. 현재 5대의 시추기가 가동 중이며, 최근 일일 시추 실적은 약 470~480미터 수준이다.

경영진은 시추 효율성 향상에 따라 기존 예산 내에서 약 5,000~1만 미터가 추가될 것으로 기대하고 있다. 첫 품위 분석 결과는 전화회의 후 약 한 달 이내에 발표되고, 이후 2~3주 간격으로 결과가 나올 것으로 예상된다.

경영진은 킷솔트 밸리를 은 중심 지역으로 설명했다. 토브릿(Torbrit), 울프 베인(Wolf Vein), 돌리 바든(Dolly Varden), 노스 스타(North Star)에서 은이 전체 가치의 약 90%를 차지한다. 회사의 5개년 목표는 금 20만 온스 및 은 500만 온스를 생산하는 것이며, 은 생산 목표는 이 지역과 연계되어 있다.

존슨 트랙

존슨 트랙은 여전히 인허가 및 인프라 구축 단계에 있다. 경영진은 FAST-41 절차가 일정대로 진행되고 있으며, 도로 및 교량 건설은 예산 미만으로 진행 중이라고 밝혔다. 인허가 작업은 건설 활동과 병행하여 계속될 예정이다.

경영진 가이던스

• 2026년 지분 금 생산량: 4만~4만5,000온스, 현재 추정치는 4만1,000온스 소폭 상회.
• 3차 및 4차 캠페인: 각 캠페인당 약 1만2,000온스 예상.
• 2026년 현금 비용: 온스당 약 1,900~2,000달러.
• 하반기 합작법인 배당금: 회사의 금 예산 추정 가정치인 3,700달러 적용 시 약 3,600만 달러.
• 금 가격 상승에 따른 추가 배당 가능성: 금 가격 4,400달러 기준 경영진은 약 700만 달러의 추가 배당을 추정하며, 해당 가격 유지 시 연간 배당금은 6,000만 달러를 소폭 상회할 전망.
• 연말 현금 보유액: 약 4,500만 달러로 예상되며, 현금은 2027년 1분기에 저점을 기록한 후 2027년 중 만초 생산 확대에 따라 증가할 것으로 예상됨.
• 럭키 샷 타당성 조사: 2027년 예정, 구체적인 완료 일자는 제공되지 않음.

리스크 및 주요 관전 포인트

• 연간 비용 가이던스 달성은 남측 피트의 높은 품위, 처리 톤수 증가 및 선행 박토작업 완료 여부에 크게 좌우된다.
• 예상 배당금 증가액은 금 가격이 온스당 4,400달러 안팎을 유지한다고 가정한다. 회사의 풋옵션은 3,100달러의 하한선을 설정하지만 경영진은 이를 일종의 보험 정책으로 설명한다.
• 합작법인이 향후 3~4개월간의 생산을 위한 자금을 보유하기 때문에 만초의 배당금이 영업 마진과 직접 연동되지 않을 수 있다.
• 품위 분석 기관의 일정에 따라 킷솔트 밸리 시추 결과 발표가 지연될 수 있다.
• 럭키 샷의 직접 출하 광석(DSO) 모델에서 운송비는 중요한 비용 요소이므로, 광석 선별 성능은 타당성 검토의 중요한 고려 사항이다.
• 회사가 3개 프로젝트에 자금을 집행함에 따라 현금이 감소하여 2027년 1분기에 저점에 도달한 뒤 회복될 것으로 경영진은 예상하고 있다.
• 존슨 트랙은 인프라 건설이 진행되는 동안 지속적인 인허가가 필요하다.

애널리스트 Q&A 하이라이트

상반기 실적이 부진했음에도 2026년 생산량 가이던스 달성이 여전히 가능한 이유는 무엇인가요?
경영진은 남측 피트가 북측 피트보다 더 많은 채굴량과 높은 품위를 제공할 것으로 예상합니다. 마지막 두 캠페인에서 각각 약 1만2,000온스가 생산될 것으로 예상되어 4만1,000온스를 약간 상회하는 총생산량을 뒷받침합니다.

현금 비용의 예상 감소 원인은 무엇인가요?
상반기에는 낮아진 품위의 광석을 처리하는 한편 남측 피트 선행 박토작업 비용을 흡수했습니다. 이러한 박토작업 비용은 대부분 마무리되었으며, 하반기에는 더 높은 품위와 처리량이 기대됩니다.

헤지가 해제됨에 따라 현금 창출 능력이 어떻게 달라지나요?
3분기부터 모든 온스가 현물 가격으로 판매될 예정입니다. 금 가격이 온스당 4,400달러를 유지할 경우 경영진은 연간 합작법인 배당금이 6,000만 달러를 소폭 상회할 것으로 추정하고 있습니다.

현재 럭키 샷 시추 작업의 전략적 목적은 무엇인가요?
이 작업은 시추 간격을 좁히고 매장량 모델을 갱신하며, 2027년 직접 출하 광석(DSO) 타당성 조사를 위한 지질 및 지반공학 데이터를 제공하기 위해 설계되었습니다.

콘탱고가 3개 개발 프로젝트 모두에 자금을 조달할 수 있나요?
경영진은 8,900만 달러의 현금 잔고와 예상되는 만초 배당금이 현재 예산 범위 내에서 럭키 샷, 킷솔트 밸리, 존슨 트랙을 추진하기에 충분한 자금을 제공한다고 밝혔습니다.

실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 전문

전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록

경영진 발표

Bianca Pisciola

All right. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening, depending on where in the world you're login from today. I lucky enough to have with me today Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, CEO of Contango Silver & Gold; and Mike Clark, the company's CFO, to discuss their recently released Q2 financials. Gentlemen, how are you doing today?

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

Good morning, Bianca. Good to see you again.

J. Clark

Good morning.

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

And you, too, Mike.

Bianca Pisciola

Always good to see you both. For folks in the room, this is an interactive event. So you can use the chat button at the bottom at any point of today's event to get -- to submit your questions. We will try to get to your questions, but note that this is only a half an hour event today. So if, for whatever reason, we don't get to your questions, someone from the Contango team will be able to help you very shortly. You can also request a meeting with the team at any point during today's event by clicking the request meeting button at the bottom of your screen.

All right. Let's get into it today.

Bianca Pisciola

Rick, this is the first full quarter reporting as Contango Silver & Gold at Kitsault Valley -- with Kitsault Valley in the portfolio and the hedge book fully behind you as of July. Before we get into the numbers, how would you like to frame where the company sits today compared to where it was at this point last year?

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

Yes. I mean, obviously, adding the Dolly Varden asset to Kitsault, I mean, it really is a world-class asset, and I think that's why we were eager to get the transaction completed. The teams are integrated. We'll talk more about the drilling later, but we've got 5 rigs turning at Kitsault, but there's a lot of other activity going on in the company at Lucky Shot and at Johnson Tract. But I think, frankly, the most exciting news for me is we're out from underneath the hedges. We've got a clear exposure for our shareholders to the upside in the gold price, which I think -- it shot up over $5,500, went back to $4,000, seemed to find a floor at $4,000. And that's when the team said, "Okay, now it's the time to take care of the hedges."

And I think that was the right call. So -- we've seen gold price continue to move up, and we're seeing now the -- we're getting the advantage of that. So I think from the macro side, which we can talk about later. But I think the company is in a great position. We're generating strong cash flows. We've got the better half of this year ahead of us with production from Manh Choh. We always guided that the first half was going to be lower and higher cost. And then, of course, we're set up well for 2027 when we'll have our -- probably the best year at Manh Choh with good grades and high grades, good grades and low cost. So -- yes, we're -- I think I'm really pleased with where we are as a company, and we still only have 33 million shares outstanding. So I think we're all, I think, pretty proud of that.

Bianca Pisciola

Very good. And Mike, let's get into the quarter. Your 30% share of Manh Choh came to about 8,900 ounces with 8,627 ounces sold at an average spot price of $4,328. The JV is still working through lower grade material from the North pit before higher grade South pit ore comes through. With that said, walk us through the production cadence for the back half of the year and why the 40,000 to 45,000 ounce guidance is still intact?

J. Clark

Yes. Thanks, Bianca. Yes. So Rick already kind of alluded to the grade being lower in the North pit, especially as we mined out kind of the outside of the resource model, there was some lower grade ounces that we did pick up before backfilling. So we didn't -- so this year, we're -- or the second half of the year, we're fully into the South pit, which has -- there's going to be more tonnes mined. There's going to be higher grade mined. And so we expect there to be about 12,000 ounces produced in both campaigns 3 and 4, which should get us to just slightly above 41,000 ounces of gold production for the year. So it's within our guidance, and that's what we're currently estimating as of today.

Bianca Pisciola

Very good. And cash costs for the first half came in at $2,665 an ounce, with all-in sustaining costs at $2,830. And the full year guidance sits at around $1,900 to $2,000 on cash costs. That implies a meaningful improvement in the second half. Can you bridge that gap for investors so they understand how much of this grade timing -- is this grade timing versus anything structural?

J. Clark

Yes. It seems like a lot higher number than what we're projecting for the year, but we still maintain that guidance, and it's largely driven by the pre-stripping in the South pit. And so you spent the whole first 6 months of the year spending money on that while also mining lower grades. And so as we get into the second half of the year, the pre-stripping is behind us, you're going to have higher tonnes mined and processed as well as the grade going up significantly. So all those things together, we still expect to come close to our guidance.

Bianca Pisciola

Awesome. And Q3 will be the first quarter in the company's history where every single ounce sells at spot with gold sitting about $4,400 right now. With the puts at $3,100 providing the floor, what does the margin picture actually look like on each ounce delivered from here? And how does that change the cash flow story for the rest of 2026?

J. Clark

Yes. I think of the puts more as just an insurance policy, and I don't really focus on those. We're always expecting gold to be above $4,000, and we budget everything at $3,700. But if you just look at it simply, you'd say $4,400 minus your $2,000 cash cost, you'd expect about a $2,400 margin. But because we're a 30% JV, I kind of more focus on what the cash distributions will be from the JV for the year because they always do hold some funds back to pay for the next 3 or 4 months of production. So I expect we should receive [ 18 ] -- about $36 million in the back half of this year from distributions. And if you apply -- using that $3,700 -- excuse me, $3,700-odd gold. So if you apply your $4,400 gold price, you'd expect to receive about another $7 million. So that should get our total cash distributions this year to slightly above $60 million if $4,400 gold holds.

Bianca Pisciola

Very good. And Rick, on July 1, you closed the purchase from Alaska Hardrock, which brings in the mineral claims around Lucky Shot along with the 2% net smelter royalty plus property and equipment. You now control that project outright with significantly reduced royalties. Why was that important to get that done now ahead of the feasibility study?

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

Yes. I think it was sort of opportunistic. We've known the underlying landowner for a number of years. And he said, "When you're ready to talk, we'd love to own the asset and buy the royalty." And I think he thought about it for a while. And obviously, when we started this whole -- when we acquired Lucky Shot, the gold price was $2,000-ish. And so as that gold price ran up to $5,500, I think he thought well, better get something done.

So -- yes, it was 100% opportunistic. There are sort of no real magic there. We think it's a good deal for him. He did a great job in consolidating that district and putting all the different patented claims together, and he's held on it for a long time. So we're grateful to him for doing that because that's a work of -- you have to work hard to put all these different patents together. So it worked out well for us.

We own the underlying patented mining claims now. Obviously, the state mining claims all around it. We control the district effectively. And -- yes, we obviously bought the royalty out as well. So we're pleased with the overall transaction. Obviously, it's a -- we obviously wouldn't have done it if we didn't think we're finding good things at Lucky Shot. So I mean that sort of underscores our belief that we've got a real mine here.

Bianca Pisciola

Well, speaking of Lucky Shot, the final assays from the underground program included an intercept grading 972 grams per tonne with visible gold in the core. GMS is back underground advancing development, and you've got 2 helicopter-supported rigs turning on the surface program between Coleman and Lucky Shot. What are these programs designed to prove ahead of the feasibility study and the 2027 production decision?

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

Yes. So basically, we're gathering all the geologic data, the geotechnical data, the assays, obviously, to do a DSO, direct shipping ore based feasibility study. And first step is to get the geologic model put together, the resource model update that, obviously, we're targeting 400,000 to 500,000 ounces of gold grading in the, I'll say, 10 to 15, 10- to 14-gram range.

Obviously, it's an underground mine. It was historically an underground mine, produced 0.25 million ounces at very high grades. We are going to look at -- they use hand-sorting back in the day. We will take a look at ore sorting and probably, obviously, more of a modern version of it with these ore sorters that work at incredibly high speeds, and they can sort on a lot of different variables. So that is something we'll take a look at because, obviously, transportation is a significant amount of the costs in a DSO model.

So if you can simply put the geology here is a quartz vein in a granodiorite, and the granodiorite is rock that doesn't have any gold in it. If you can mine something that's 2, 3 meters wide and a meter of that is granodiorite, you can get rid of it or get rid of 50% of it with the ore sorters, you're -- that much -- you've upgraded your average grade, your diluted mine grade and you're not transporting that material.

So yes, we've got a lot of work to do, but the first step is gathering all the -- getting the drill spacing down. We're drilling on about 25-meter centers. And then we do fan shots. So between the -- each time we're hitting the quartz vein, we're probably in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 meters apart. So this is a -- this will be measured indicated resource, and we'll be able to develop a mine plan around that. And as I said, the other metallurgy here is like super simple.

It's quartz and gold, a very small amount of sulfide. We've talked about the possibility of taking it to the Fort Knox mill. That's an obvious choice. I think it's fair to say that Fort Knox is interested. They still have a mill that has plenty of capacity in it. But there are other options that we are evaluating as well. So -- that's kind of where we're at.

Give us -- I think the drilling will take place between now, I mean we've been drilling, obviously, the surface drilling 2 rigs. The underground rig will start back up at the end of the month. And let's see what else. We'll be drilling until about March of next year. And obviously, working on all the engineering and what have you work between now and then. And don't have a date on when we'll have a feasibility study done, but it will be in 2027.

Bianca Pisciola

Awesome. And over at Kitsault Valley, you had more than 35,000 meters of the 40,000 meter program done by the end of June and a new resource estimate coming together this quarter. This is the first update since the merger closed. What should investors be watching for in that number? And how has the integration of the Dolly Varden team gone on the ground?

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

Yes, great integration. I mean it's a really good group of people, and they're -- I have to say they're like really kicking butt on getting the drilling done. We've got 5 rigs turning. They're averaging beginning of the season when they're drilling the shallower holes, they're over 500 meters a day, 100 meters a rig, which is really good. They're a little under that now, but the high-470, 480 sort of level. So they're cranking out a lot of core, and they're doing it very efficiently from a timing perspective, but also from a cost perspective, which obviously makes me smile and makes Mike smile. But we're smiling because we're going to do more drilling.

We're going to get more drilling, wring more drilling out of the budget. And this was flow-through finance. So we're probably going to get another, I'd say, 5,000 to 10,000 meters drilled with the same budget. So we're excited about that. Obviously, we'll have drill results out, I'm going to guess within a month. That's up to the laboratory gods, which never seem to favor anyone. When I go to conferences, that's probably the #1 complaint of exploration geologists is how long it takes to get assays. So -- but yes, I think we're tracking them, and I think we'll have results out within a month. So hopefully, sometime in later in August at the earliest, but probably more likely early first half of September.

And then once we put results out, you're going to have results every 2, 3 weeks after that. So...

Bianca Pisciola

Brilliant. Silver is trading around $65 an ounce, up roughly 70% from a year ago, and it's been leading gold for stretches of this rally. When you renamed the company, Contango Silver & Gold in March, some people saw that as a bet on exactly this kind of market. How does the silver exposure at Kitsault change the way investors should think about the story?

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

I think I used the term world-class, and I don't use that lightly. There are very few silver-only -- silver deposits. Most silver producers are -- it's a bit of smoke and mirrors, frankly, because it's -- they produce more gold value-wise than they do silver. Kitsault is a silver centric silver deposit. It makes up 90% of the value for the Torbrit and the Wolf Vein and Dolly Varden and North Star. Those are all -- you're 90% of the value in silver. You've got some base metals, lead zinc. You don't have a lot of gold. There is gold at Homestake, which is sort of a separate center. It's part of the same overall geologic system, but it's 5 kilometers away, and it's gold-rich.

Interestingly enough, between the two, you do have a gold and silver deposit, which we -- which is right adjacent and named Homestake Silver, but it has good silver and good gold. So nothing wrong with that. But the lion's share of the ounces are silver ounces. And -- so that's going to make for a very interesting story. That's why we kind of -- we talk about our objective in 5 years is to produce 200,000 ounces of gold and 5 million ounces of silver. That -- and 5 million ounces of silver is coming from that silver-centric part of the district.

Torbrit, Dolly Varden and New Wolf discovery. Now we're drilling in some really exciting stuff right now, and I'll -- I can't say much more, but you'll wait for the assays, and they'll be out within a month here.

Bianca Pisciola

Excellent. And Johnson Tract is getting a bit less airtime than the other assets right now, but there's real work happening this summer with bids in for road construction and helicopter support to connect the camp to the proposed portal site. What does the 2026 field season look like there? And where does Johnson Tract fit in the queue behind Lucky Shot and Kitsault?

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

Yes. So yes, when you're permitting, that's always kind of the -- I call it the boring part of the Lassonde Curve. But -- so we're permitting, and that's moving part of FAST-41, and that's all moving along according to the schedule. And people can -- what I love about FAST-41 is it's transparent and the schedules on the Internet. So everybody can go and see. We have these reports due and we get those reports due and they have -- the agencies have so many days to review, and that's all happening according to schedule. So that's great.

But while they're doing that, we've been building roads and bridges. And -- so I'm actually heading out there next week, and we'll take some photos and some video, and we'll get that up on the Internet. And I'm really excited to walk across the Johnson River on the bridge. And I'll send you some photos.

Bianca Pisciola

Please.

J. Clark

And it's under budget, too, Rick.

Bianca Pisciola

Love that. That's great. I can't wait to see.

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

The important point to me is because that's -- whenever -- if you look at construction projects, they have a habit of going over budget and taking longer than you plan. And I think the guys again, have just done a great job. The team out there has done a great job of getting it done. And Alegre and her environmental team have done a great job just working with agencies, keeping everything permitted. And there's still a lot of permitting to do while you're doing all this construction work, right? It's permitting -- you're never done permitting.

Bianca Pisciola

Absolutely. Mike, back over to you. Let's talk about the balance sheet. You ended the quarter with $89 million in cash. Repayments on the facility are just $2 million for the rest of this year and distributions from the JV should build as the South pit grades come through. You're funding three projects at once. How do you prioritize where the dollars go over the next 12 months?

J. Clark

Yes. Well, we forecast out the next kind of 3 to 4 years. But if you kind of just isolate over the next 12 months. We have $89 million in the bank as of June 30. We do have distributions coming from Manh Choh. And so with those, we have sufficient capital to advance all these three projects as planned. So it's just making sure that those -- each of those individual budgets stay within where we're currently sitting, then there's plenty of cash to fund those. You'll see the cash probably end the year around $45 million. But what you're -- and you'll probably see it dip to its lowest amount in kind of Q1 of next year. But then as we ramp up into '27 with Manh Choh, you're going to see the cash steadily increase while continuing to advance all those projects.

Bianca Pisciola

Very good. And Rick, let's close off today by asking a macro question. Gold appears to be making a come back yet again despite the feeble warnings of gold bears. What do you think about the macro setup for this year, up 10% in a month is no slouch?

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

Yes. I mean, look, we talked about it earlier that we saw gold retrace down to the $4,000 level. It didn't seem to want to go down below $4,000 for any significant period of time. There was always a buyer. And then -- it turns out that those central -- same central banks that have been buying were buying again. And of course, led by China, but other banks as well.

So I think it's kind of the song remains the same sort of a scenario here. We keep printing money. The Fed is stuck between a rock and a hard spot. We're still what, close to $40 trillion in debt, the U.S. and it's not just the U.S., all the other currency, all the other governments are in debt, too. And there's only -- gold is the commodity that -- or I should say, the currency that is no one's liability. So whereas when you keep printing money, at some point, somebody says, what are we doing here? So -- yes, gold is king, and we're unhedged. So we're going to see that upside delivered to our shareholders, which I think is the most important thing we've done this year.

Bianca Pisciola

Absolutely. Speaking of -- thank you, everyone, who joined today. If you have a question for the Contango team, and it's just occurring to you just now, please feel free to send them in. We will make sure that they get to the team. Big thank you to you, Rick and Mike for joining us today. Always a pleasure to have you on the platform and hear an update on the story.

But Rick, I'll pass it over to you for a final word.

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

Yes, if there's no other questions from audience. Look, I mean, we're pleased with where the company sits today, unhedged, 33 million shares outstanding, NYSE and Toronto listing. So good liquidity. I think if you're looking for exposure to the gold business, I encourage -- I've always encouraged people to look at it on a per share basis because as a shareholder, you own a part of the company and that leverage is what you want when you are making an investment in the gold space.

So -- yes, we're in a great spot. We're going to have a lot of news flow, a lot of catalysts coming our way in the next few weeks with Lucky Shot drill results, Kitsault drill results, some great photos of roads and bridges at Johnson Tract. And we're on the move. We're going to keep moving. So keep adding value for shareholders. That's our job, and that's our mission.

Bianca Pisciola

Fantastic. Thank you, guys, again. Have a lovely rest of your day.

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse

Thank you very much.

Bianca Pisciola

Thanks.