Unpacking the Massive Merger of Contango Ore and Dolly Varden

Contango Silver & Gold is the new entity born from the merger of Dolly Varden Silver and Contango ORE — a cash-flowing gold producer in Alaska now armed with one of western Canada's largest undeveloped silver assets in the Kitsault Valley. In this episode, Jay sits down with CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse and President Shawn Khunkhun to unpack the thesis: use real cash flow from the Manh Choh mine to self-fund a pipeline of high-grade development and exploration projects without diluting shareholders. Rick, an exploration geologist who founded NovaGold and made the original Donlin discovery, shares the hard-won lessons that shaped Contango's Direct Shipping Ore model — a capital-light approach that bypasses the need to build a mill by shipping high-grade rock to Kinross's Fort Knox processing facility. Shawn lays out the financial architecture: $100 million in cash on hand, approximately $100 million per year in free cash flow, and a $50 million exploration program spanning 60,000 metres of drilling across Lucky Shot, Johnson Tract, and Kitsault Valley in 2026 alone. The conversation covers the path from 60,000 to 200,000 ounces of annual gold production, the FAST-41 permitting program now being leveraged for critical metals projects, the historic political shift favoring domestic mineral supply chains, and why — in a market where equities have yet to price in the metals breakout of 2025 — the current correction may represent the most compelling entry point in the cycle. Contango Silver & Gold (NYSE American: CTGO) https://contangoore.com/ 516 2nd Avenue, Suite 401 Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 Corporate Head Office Phone: 1-907-388-7770 Investor Relations Email: [email protected] Learn to invest alongside the top minds in commodities. Join The Commodity University today. CLICK: https://linkly.link/26yH8 Sign up for my free weekly newsletter at https://2ly.link/211gx Be part of our online investment community: https://cambridgehouse.com https://twitter.com/JayMartinBC https://www.instagram.com/jaymartinbc https://www.facebook.com/TheJayMartinShow https://www.linkedin.com/company/cambridge-house-international Disclaimer: Contango Silver & Gold Inc. has paid for this video production. Questions are not exchanged prior to the interview and it is ultimately the discretion of the Jay Martin Show as to how the interview gets published. 0:00 Introduction 0:41 Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse's Background & the Donlin Discovery 4:14 Lessons Learned: Why Remote Mega-Projects Are a Hard Road 5:33 The Direct Shipping Ore Model Explained 6:24 Manh Choh Mine Operations & the Kinross Partnership 7:51 Self-Funding Advantage: Cash Flow Over Dilution 8:23 $100M Treasury, Lucky Shot & the Path to 100K Oz/Year 10:02 Johnson Tract & the Path to 200K Oz Gold Production 11:46 Positioning Against Hecla: Valuation & Pipeline Depth 12:44 The Melting Ice Cube Problem & Why Pipeline Matters 14:21 2026 Drill Programs: 60,000 Metres Across Three Projects 16:05 The FAST-41 Permitting Program & Political Tailwinds 19:14 Bipartisan Consensus on Critical Metals 20:30 Rally Thinking vs. Secular Cycles: A Mindset Shift 21:34 Market Correction Advice: You Make Money on the Buy 25:43 Institutional Sentiment & the Generalist Warming 27:33 Kitsault Valley: Updated MRE & the Development Lens 29:16 Manh Choh Production Guidance & Pit Transition Economics 31:00 Kitsault as a DSO Candidate: Grade, Water & Infrastructure 32:36 Johnson Tract Milestones: Road Construction & Underground Access Copyright © 2025 Cambridge House International Inc. All rights reserved.