Contango Announces Earnings for Quarter Ended June 30, 2024

Contango ORE, Inc. (“Contango” or the “Company”) (NYSE American: CTGO) announced today it filed its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024 (“Q2-2024”) with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Company reported a net loss of $18.5 million (“M”) or a loss of $1.90 per basic and diluted share for Q2-2024, which includes a non-cash expense of $12.6 M related to a loss on mark-to-market derivative contracts, calculated based on a forward gold price compared to the contracted hedge price. This compares to a net loss of $10.4 M or a loss of $1.38 per basic and diluted share for the three month period ended June 30, 2023 (“Q2-2023”). The primary reason for the increase in net loss in the 2024 period is due to the Company entering into derivative gold hedging contracts with its lenders in the second half of 2023. Furthermore, the Company incurred increased interest costs related to the funds drawn down on its secured credit facility (the “Facility”) in the 2024 period, which totaled $2.9 M for Q2-2024 compared to $0.6 M for Q2-2023. The loss for the 2024 period was partially offset by a reduction in the loss on the Company’s equity investment in the Peak Gold JV, which relates to pre-production costs for development and construction at the Company’s 30% interest in the Manh Choh project being operated by an indirect subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corporation (“Kinross”).

In conjunction with entering into the Facility, the Company entered into quarterly hedge contracts for the period July 31, 2024 to December 31, 2026 for a total of 124,600 ounces of gold at an average price of $2,025 per ounce, representing approximately 65% of the expected gold production during that period or equivalent to approximately 42% of the Company’s share of the life-of-mine reserves on the Manh Choh project. The gold deliveries into the quarterly hedge contracts mirror the Company’s portion of gold production outlined in the feasibility technical report summary (the “TRS”)¹ for the first 2.5 years of production at Manh Choh. The unhedged gold production, representing approximately 35% during the first 2.5 years of production, will be sold at time of delivery at the spot market prices. From December 31, 2026 onwards, all gold production at Manh Choh is unhedged.