Cuộc họp công bố kết quả kinh doanh Q2 2026 của Contango Silver & Gold (CTGO): Duy trì định hướng khi các hợp đồng phòng hộ giá kết thúc

Các điểm chính

• 30% sản lượng Manh Choh thuộc sở hữu của Contango Silver & Gold đạt khoảng 8.900 ounce trong quý 2 năm 2026. Công ty đã bán 8.627 ounce với giá vàng giao ngay trung bình là 4.328 USD/ounce.
• Ban lãnh đạo giữ nguyên dự báo sản lượng được phân bổ cho năm 2026 là 40.000–45.000 ounce và hiện ước tính sản lượng đạt trên 41.000 ounce một chút. Đợt khai thác 3 và 4 dự kiến mỗi đợt sẽ sản xuất khoảng 12.000 ounce.
• Chi phí tiền mặt trong nửa đầu năm là 2.665 USD/ounce và chi phí duy trì toàn bộ (AISC) là 2.830 USD/ounce. Ban lãnh đạo tiếp tục hướng tới mục tiêu chi phí tiền mặt cả năm khoảng 1.900–2.000 USD/ounce khi quặng cấp cao hơn từ moong phía Nam thay thế cho vật liệu cấp thấp hơn từ moong phía Bắc.
• Danh mục hợp đồng bảo hiểm rủi ro (hedge book) đã được tất toán hoàn toàn trong tháng 7. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết quý 3 sẽ là quý đầu tiên trong lịch sử công ty mà từng ounce vàng đều được bán theo giá giao ngay, trong khi các quyền chọn bán ở mức 3.100 USD mang lại sự bảo vệ trước rủi ro giảm giá.
• Tiền mặt đạt tổng cộng 89 triệu USD tính đến ngày 30 tháng 6. Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng khoản phân phối tiền mặt năm 2026 từ liên doanh Manh Choh sẽ vượt 60 triệu USD nếu giá vàng duy trì ở mức 4.400 USD/ounce.
• Công ty đang đồng thời đẩy mạnh các dự án Lucky Shot, Kitsault Valley và Johnson Tract, trong đó công tác nghiên cứu khả thi của Lucky Shot dự kiến vào năm 2027 và năm giàn khoan đang hoạt động tại Kitsault Valley.

Dữ liệu tài chính chính

Kết quả hoạt động kinh doanh và vận hành

Manh Choh

Sản lượng nửa đầu năm phản ánh quặng hàm lượng thấp hơn từ moong phía Bắc, bao gồm các ounce thu hồi ngoài mô hình tài nguyên trước khi lấp hố. Liên doanh đã chuyển sang moong phía Nam trong nửa cuối năm, nơi ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng sản lượng tấn quặng cao hơn và hàm lượng quặng cao hơn đáng kể.

Công tác bóc đất đá trước tại moong phía Nam về cơ bản đã hoàn tất trong sáu tháng đầu năm. Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng yếu tố thời điểm này, kết hợp với công suất xử lý và hàm lượng quặng tăng lên, sẽ thúc đẩy giảm đáng kể chi phí đơn vị trong nửa cuối năm.

Với giá vàng 4.400 USD và chi phí tiền mặt khoảng 2.000 USD, ban lãnh đạo đã minh họa mức biên lợi nhuận khoảng 2.400 USD/ounce. Vì Manh Choh giữ lại tiền mặt cho nhiều tháng sản xuất sắp tới, công ty tập trung vào các khoản phân phối từ liên doanh thay vì chỉ tính biên lợi nhuận đơn thuần trên mỗi ounce.

Lucky Shot

Contango đã hoàn tất giao dịch Alaska Hardrock vào ngày 1 tháng 7, bổ sung các quyền khai thác khoáng sản được cấp bằng sáng chế, tài sản và thiết bị, đồng thời mua lại 2% tiền bản quyền tinh luyện ròng (net smelter royalty). Ban lãnh đạo cho biết giao dịch này mang lại cho công ty quyền kiểm soát hiệu quả đối với khu vực và phản ánh niềm tin vào tiềm năng mỏ của Lucky Shot.

Các kết quả xét nghiệm mẫu quặng lòng đất cuối cùng bao gồm một khoảng chặn đạt hàm lượng 972 gam/tấn có thể nhìn thấy vàng bằng mắt thường. Hai giàn khoan mặt đất hỗ trợ bằng trực thăng đang khoan giữa Coleman và Lucky Shot, trong khi hoạt động khoan trong lòng đất dự kiến sẽ khởi động lại vào cuối tháng.

Chương trình đang thu thập dữ liệu địa chất, địa kỹ thuật và xét nghiệm cho nghiên cứu khả thi vận chuyển quặng trực tiếp (direct-shipping-ore). Ban lãnh đạo đặt mục tiêu trữ lượng tài nguyên vàng đạt 400.000–500.000 ounce với hàm lượng khoảng 10–14 gam/tấn. Hoạt động khoan dự kiến sẽ tiếp tục cho đến khoảng tháng 3 năm 2027, với báo cáo nghiên cứu khả thi lên kế hoạch vào năm 2027.

Công ty cũng đang đánh giá phương án phân loại quặng để loại bỏ đá granodiorit vô tính (không chứa quặng), làm tăng hàm lượng quặng sau pha loãng và giảm khối lượng vận chuyển. Fort Knox là một lựa chọn xử lý tiềm năng, mặc dù ban lãnh đạo cho biết các phương án thay thế khác vẫn đang được xem xét.

Kitsault Valley

Hơn 35.000 mét trong tổng số 40.000 mét thuộc chương trình khoan theo kế hoạch đã hoàn thành tính đến cuối tháng 6. Năm giàn khoan đang hoạt động, với tốc độ khoan hàng ngày gần đây đạt khoảng 470–480 mét.

Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng hiệu quả khoan sẽ gia tăng thêm khoảng 5.000–10.000 mét trong phạm vi ngân sách hiện tại. Kết quả xét nghiệm ban đầu dự kiến có trong khoảng một tháng kể từ cuộc họp, sau đó các kết quả tiếp theo sẽ được công bố mỗi hai đến ba tuần.

Ban lãnh đạo mô tả Kitsault Valley là một khu vực trọng tâm về bạc. Bạc chiếm khoảng 90% giá trị tại Torbrit, Wolf Vein, Dolly Varden và North Star. Mục tiêu 5 năm của công ty là sản xuất 200.000 ounce vàng và 5 triệu ounce bạc, trong đó mục tiêu về bạc gắn liền với khu vực này.

Johnson Tract

Johnson Tract vẫn đang trong giai đoạn cấp phép và xây dựng cơ sở hạ tầng. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết quy trình FAST-41 đang tiến triển theo đúng tiến độ, trong khi việc xây dựng đường và cầu nằm dưới mức ngân sách dự toán. Công tác cấp phép sẽ tiếp tục song song với hoạt động xây dựng.

Dự báo từ ban lãnh đạo

• Sản lượng vàng phân bổ năm 2026: 40.000–45.000 ounce, với ước tính hiện tại đạt trên 41.000 ounce một chút.
• Đợt khai thác 3 và 4: Dự kiến khoảng 12.000 ounce từ mỗi đợt.
• Chi phí tiền mặt năm 2026: Khoảng 1.900–2.000 USD/ounce.
• Các khoản phân phối từ liên doanh trong nửa cuối năm: Khoảng 36 triệu USD dựa trên giả định ngân sách giá vàng 3.700 USD của công ty.
• Mức tăng tiềm năng từ giá vàng: Ở mức giá vàng 4.400 USD, ban lãnh đạo ước tính khoản phân phối bổ sung khoảng 7 triệu USD, đưa tổng khoản phân phối cả năm đạt trên 60 triệu USD một chút nếu mức giá đó được duy trì.
• Tiền mặt cuối năm: Dự kiến đạt khoảng 45 triệu USD, trong đó tiền mặt có khả năng chạm mức thấp nhất vào quý 1 năm 2027 trước khi tăng lên khi Manh Choh đẩy mạnh sản xuất trong năm 2027.
• Nghiên cứu khả thi Lucky Shot: Dự kiến vào năm 2027, chưa có ngày hoàn thành cụ thể được đưa ra.

Rủi ro và các yếu tố cần theo dõi

• Việc đạt được dự báo chi phí cả năm phụ thuộc nhiều vào hàm lượng quặng cao hơn ở moong phía Nam, sản lượng tấn quặng được xử lý tăng lên và hoàn tất công tác bóc đất đá trước.
• Mức tăng phân phối dự kiến giả định giá vàng duy trì gần 4.400 USD/ounce. Các quyền chọn bán của công ty thiết lập mức sàn 3.100 USD nhưng được ban lãnh đạo mô tả như một hợp đồng bảo hiểm.
• Các khoản phân phối từ Manh Choh có thể không biến động trực tiếp theo biên lợi nhuận hoạt động vì liên doanh giữ lại vốn cho ba đến bốn tháng sản xuất tiếp theo.
• Thời gian xử lý của phòng xét nghiệm mẫu quặng có thể làm chậm việc công bố kết quả khoan tại Kitsault Valley.
• Vận chuyển là một thành phần chi phí đáng kể trong mô hình vận chuyển quặng trực tiếp của Lucky Shot, khiến hiệu quả phân loại quặng trở thành một yếu tố xem xét quan trọng đối với tính khả thi.
• Tiền mặt dự kiến sẽ giảm khi công ty tài trợ cho ba dự án, chạm mức thấp dự kiến vào quý 1 năm 2027 trước khi ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng nó sẽ phục hồi.
• Johnson Tract yêu cầu tiếp tục cấp phép trong khi việc xây dựng cơ sở hạ tầng diễn ra.

Các điểm nổi bật trong phần Q&A với chuyên gia phân tích

Tại sao dự báo sản lượng năm 2026 vẫn có thể đạt được sau nửa đầu năm yếu hơn?
Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng moong phía Nam sẽ cung cấp nhiều sản lượng tấn hơn và hàm lượng quặng cao hơn moong phía Bắc. Dự kiến khoảng 12.000 ounce từ mỗi đợt trong hai đợt khai thác cuối cùng, hỗ trợ sản lượng đạt trên 41.000 ounce một chút.

Yếu tố nào thúc đẩy sự giảm chi phí tiền mặt theo dự kiến?
Nửa đầu năm đã gánh chịu chi phí bóc đất đá trước tại moong phía Nam trong khi xử lý quặng có hàm lượng thấp hơn. Các chi phí bóc đất đá đó về cơ bản đã hoàn tất, và hàm lượng quặng cùng công suất xử lý cao hơn được kỳ vọng trong nửa cuối năm.

Việc không còn dùng hợp đồng bảo hiểm rủi ro làm thay đổi khả năng tạo tiền mặt như thế nào?
Mỗi ounce sẽ được bán theo giá giao ngay bắt đầu từ quý 3. Ban lãnh đạo ước tính khoản phân phối cả năm từ liên doanh đạt trên 60 triệu USD một chút nếu giá vàng duy trì ở mức 4.400 USD/ounce.

Mục đích chiến lược của hoạt động khoan hiện tại tại Lucky Shot là gì?
Công tác này được thiết kế để thu hẹp khoảng cách khoan, cập nhật mô hình tài nguyên và cung cấp dữ liệu địa chất và địa kỹ thuật cho nghiên cứu khả thi vận chuyển quặng trực tiếp năm 2027.

Contango có thể tài trợ cho cả ba dự án phát triển không?
Ban lãnh đạo cho biết số dư tiền mặt 89 triệu USD và các khoản phân phối dự kiến từ Manh Choh cung cấp đủ nguồn vốn để thúc đẩy Lucky Shot, Kitsault Valley và Johnson Tract theo ngân sách hiện tại của các dự án.

Toàn văn biên bản cuộc họp kết quả kinh doanh

Toàn văn cuộc gọi công bố kết quả kinh doanh

Phần trình bày của ban lãnh đạo

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.