Commencement Operations At Manh Choh Mine And Re-Start Of Drilling At Lucky Shot Mine

HOUSTON, TX - Contango ORE, Inc. announced that mining operations have started at its 30% owned Manh Choh Mine, located near Tok, Alaska. With all major contracts, bonding and permitting in place, the Project remains on track and on budget to bring Contango’s 30% interest in Manh Choh into production in the second half of 2024. Based on the Feasibility Study Technical Report Summary (TRS), the Manh Choh mine is expected to produce 225,000 gold equivalent ounces (GEO) per year over a 4.5 year mine life1. Contango’s share of production is expected to average 67,500 GEO per year. In addition, the Company has initiated a surface drilling program at its Lucky Shot project.

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, President, and CEO said, “We are indeed excited to report that mining operations have commenced at Manh Choh and that the construction phase has been achieved on budget and on schedule. The opening at the Manh Choh mine was officially celebrated with a ground-breaking ceremony on August 29th. In attendance were the Governor of Alaska, Michael Dunlevy, Tetlin Tribal Chief, Michael Sam, and Tribal Council members, as well as representatives from both Kinross and Contango. At this point, mining operations primarily consist of pre-stripping activities, with any ore encountered to be stockpiled for later transport by road haul trucks to the Fort Knox mill for processing. Meanwhile, mill modification activities continue at the Fort Knox mill with an emphasis on completing outdoor activities before winter arrives. The project continues to be on track to achieve commercial production in H2 2024.”

At the Lucky Shot project, the Company initiated a surface exploration drill program on the Coleman segment of the Lucky Shot vein. The Technical Report Summary for the Lucky Shot project, the Coleman Segment of the Lucky Shot vein contains an estimated 95,092 ounces of Indicated gold resource averaging 15.6 grams per metric tonne (g/t) (0.455 ounces per short ton (oz/st)) and an additional 23,642 ounces of Inferred gold resource averaging 9.9 g/t (0.289 oz/st).

Van Nieuwenhuyse further commented, “We will complete as much surface drilling as we can safely accomplish from this single drill pad on top of Box Mountain before winter weather conditions shut us down. The program is designed to extend known mineralization on the Coleman Segment of the Lucky Shot vein, and upgrade resources to a measured category so that we can incorporate into a proper mine plan. Future drilling of approximately 12,000 meters (39,000 feet) from underground at Lucky Shot is expected to be undertaken in 2024 to augment resources on the Lucky Shot Segment of the vein. This program is expected to substantially expand the current resource on the Lucky Shot Segment with drill holes having approximately 15 to 20 meters (50 to 65 feet) of separation on each fan and each fan approximately 25 meters (82 feet) apart. Our objective over the next year is to complete the above-mentioned surface drill program followed by the underground drill program at Lucky Shot to identify 400,000 to 500,000 ounces of gold resource that we can then develop a mine plan around.”