Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse — "Contango Offers the Most Leverage to Gold on a Per-Share Basis" (Mining Stock Education, Sep 2026)

One-line take: A paid sponsor segment with the CEO, so every stance here is management's own. Contango Silver and Gold (the merged Contango ORE + Dolly Varden Silver, now CTG on NYSE American and TSX) calls 2026 an "execution year" and sets a five-year plan of ~60k → ~200k gold-equivalent oz/yr plus 5 Moz silver/yr. Today's cash engine is its 30% of Manh Choh (70% Kinross, contract-mined by Kiewit, ore trucked to Kinross's Fort Knox mill): 2026 is the planned low year — 40–45k oz at AISC around $2,600–2,700 in H1 vs ~$1,600 life-of-mine — rising to ~75k oz in 2027 as higher-grade south-pit sulfide ore arrives (a new oxygen plant is running). The growth pipeline copies that direct-ship-ore (DSO) model: Lucky Shot (100%, fully permitted; 110k oz at 14 g/t today, targeting 400–500k oz resource / ~250k oz reserve at 10–12 g/t; "feasibility light" in H2 2027), Johnson Tract (FAST-41 permitting, permits by May 2028, production ~2030–31; PEA NPV >$600M at $4,000 gold) and Kitsault Valley (65 Moz silver resource, 50k m drilled this year, updated MRE within weeks); a mill purchase to process Johnson Tract and Kitsault sulfide ore is under negotiation. Balance sheet: hedges gone, ~$47M debt, ~$50M cash expected at year-end, planning at $3,700 gold, ~$160–170M free cash flow at $4,000 in 2027, debt-free by end-2027. His valuation pitch: treat Manh Choh as a quasi-royalty and the development assets as self-funded juniors — on only 33M shares. Timestamps link into the video.

1. Stocks & names mentioned

Ticker	Name	Research	View	What he said	At
CTGO	Contango Silver and Gold (formerly Contango ORE; merged with Dolly Varden Silver — now trades as CTG on NYSE American / TSX)	QT · SA · STK · FA	Positive	His own company, in a sponsored segment. Five-year plan from ~60k to ~200k gold-equivalent oz/yr plus 5 Moz silver, funded by its 30% of Manh Choh (40–45k oz in the 2026 low year, ~75k oz in 2027) and the direct-ship-ore model at Lucky Shot, Johnson Tract and Kitsault. Debt ~$47M, debt-free by end-2027. Value it "more like a royalty company… Kinross does all the work and we get a dividend check," with self-funded development assets on top — and "we only have 33 million shares outstanding," so "you get the best leverage on a per share basis with Contango."	29:02
KGC	Kinross Gold	QT · SA · STK · FA	Neutral	The 70% operator of the Manh Choh JV and owner of the Fort Knox mill, tailings facility and power plant ("operating for 30 years") that make Contango's direct-ship-ore model work. Praised as operator — "Kinross does all the work… to date they've been spot on" — and Fort Knox is one of three toll-milling options for Lucky Shot. No view on KGC shares.	6:32
Kiewit	Kiewit Corporation (private contractor)	—	Neutral	"This is all contract mining with Kiewit is the main contractor" at Manh Choh; the pre-strip is nearly done, so equipment goes home and costs fall from the $2,600–2,700 AISC of H1 toward the ~$1,600 life-of-mine average.	2:24
Victoria Gold	Victoria Gold (Eagle mine, Yukon — former TSX: VGCX, in receivership)	—	Negative	A cautionary example raised by the host. Regulators study "what went wrong," but the Eagle failure "wasn't a tailings facility. It was a heap leach that failed" — and Contango's DSO projects avoid building either, which he says makes Alaska permitting easier rather than harder.	18:34

"View" is Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse's stance in this conversation (Positive / Neutral / Negative), not a price rating — and as Contango's CEO, in a segment Contango sponsors, the CTGO row is management's own view of its own company. The row keeps the hub's existing CTGO id so the consolidated page stays continuous; the company now trades as CTG, and the research links point there. Dolly Varden Silver (formerly DV.V) is part of CTG and is not tabled separately. Research: QT Qualtrim · SA Seeking Alpha · STK Stock Analysis.

2. Talking points

0:52 An execution story: 60k → 200k oz plus 5 Moz silver

Five-year plan: from ~60,000 gold-equivalent ounces to ~200,000 oz/yr, plus 5 Moz silver/yr.
2026 was framed as the "execution year" — merging the companies and the teams — "and I think we've delivered on that."

1:34 Manh Choh: the planned low year

The move from the north pit to the main (south) pit is substantially complete; stripping continues on the main pit.
2026 guidance 40–45k oz (Contango's 30%), with AISC well above the ~$1,600 average — around $2,600–2,700 in H1 — falling as pre-stripping ends and Kiewit sends equipment home.

2:47 Third campaign and an oxygen plant for sulfide ore

The year's third processing campaign runs through September into October; results come with Q3.
For the heavier, higher-grade sulfide ore, the CIL tanks are now sparged with oxygen rather than air, speeding cyanidation — completed, tested and "performing to plan."

3:47 2027: ~75k oz at lower cost

Higher grades from the south pit and most of the pre-strip behind them.

4:26 Reconciliation: more tons, lower grade, same ounces

In-pit drilling versus the model shows slightly lower grade over more tons but the same ounces — "not untypical" in a high-grade deposit, where modelling deliberately restricts the high grade.

5:14 Two extra levels in the north pit

The north pit was mined two levels deeper than planned; he expects the same in the main pit and around the edges.
Extra ounces push the schedule back — ore mined takes ~6 weeks to reach the Fort Knox stockpile. About $5M of exploration is under way on the rest of the property.

6:32 Direct ship ore, explained

Mine it, truck it to Kinross's Fort Knox mill — using an existing mill, tailings facility and power plant that has run for 30 years — instead of building your own. That is why Manh Choh reached production quickly on little capital.
It is now the "modus operandi": Lucky Shot, Johnson Tract and Kitsault are all high-grade enough to pay the haul to an existing, permitted mill.

7:59 Contender vs pretender: a mine plan, not a bulk sample

Powers flags a trend of developers shipping a bulk sample and calling it DSO. His test: "It really is about grade and delivering grade. Not just a bulk sample, but a mine plan" — 5 to 10 years of consistent delivery.
At Lucky Shot: ~6,000 m of surface drilling this summer, underground drilling restarting from new exploration tunnels.

9:28 Lucky Shot: 110k oz today, 400–500k oz targeted

Current resource ~110k oz at 14 g/t; ~20,000 m of drilling to finish by February 2027 aimed at a 400–500k oz resource.
From that, ~250k oz of reserves at a 10–12 g/t minable grade — "more than adequate" to truck to a mill such as Fort Knox.

10:28 Fully permitted, "feasibility light"

Second DSO criterion: is the mine plan fully permitted? Lucky Shot is.
The study is "basically just a mine plan and a transportation plan and then a tolling arrangement" — Fort Knox plus two alternatives. Contango owns 100%, bought back a large royalty, and acquired a mill building, truck shop and bunkhouse.

11:48 FAST-41 works — but it needs to be law

Johnson Tract (copper, zinc, gold, silver — all critical metals) has been in the program close to a year, now in data collection.
Every required study sits on a public dashboard with review deadlines (30 or 60 days) that hold "the agency's feet to the fire" — and the company's. His caution: the executive can drop it, so "we need that in law from Congress."

14:10 Johnson Tract: production ~2030–31

Camp-to-portal road finished this year; the exploration tunnel starts next year for feasibility drilling.
Road-to-coast and barge-landing permits expected by May 2028 per the dashboard, then about a year to build those and a year of development before ore ships.

15:46 Buying a mill for two sulfide deposits

Johnson Tract and Kitsault both yield copper, lead and zinc concentrates plus a precious-metal concentrate, so one facility could process both.
Active talks to acquire a mill under confidentiality; building on an existing permitted mill site is also being studied. He hopes to decide this year or early next.

17:45 The Eagle failure and why DSO sidesteps it

Regulators learn from failures, but Eagle "wasn't a tailings facility. It was a heap leach that failed."
Tailings are "the most controversial" piece to permit; DSO projects don't build one, and using one already proven to operate "makes their job a lot easier."

19:05 Permitting a quarry: design around water quality

Lucky Shot, Johnson Tract and Kitsault are envisioned as underground mines — "basically quarry operations."
The regulator's question is the water: is it acid-generating? Lucky Shot's host rock is granodiorite with very low sulfide; at Johnson Tract the development is 100% in non-acid-generating dacite porphyry, deliberately away from the sulfide ore body — "you spend a little more money up front" for less long-term impact.

20:36 Skipping the Lassonde curve's valley of death

A full project (mill, tailings, power plant) needs many permits and baseline data — typically 5 to 10 years — by which time prices have moved and the feasibility study must be redone: "a long hard slog."
A simple quarry permit with the acid-generating rock processed elsewhere avoids most of that.

22:30 Kitsault Valley: the silver engine

The only silver-rich asset — "why we had our eye on Kitsault." Planned 40,000 m this year, drilled 50,000+ thanks to team efficiencies.
A mineral resource estimate on pre-2026 drilling is delayed by software migration and due "in the next couple of weeks," upgrading inferred to measured & indicated; this year's assays come later.

24:23 District geology: silver south, gold north

Mostly silver, with ~10% of value in base metals. Dolly Varden, Wolf and Torbrit are the silver-dominant deposits; Homestake to the north is closer to 50/50 gold/silver.
New targets identified; heavy news flow over the next 3–4 months from Lucky Shot, Kitsault and Johnson Tract.

26:03 Balance sheet: ~$47M debt, planning at $3,700 gold

Hedges removed and partly converted to debt, now ~$47M. 2027 is the "banner year" at Manh Choh.
Planning uses $3,700 gold; at $4,000 he sees roughly $160–170M of free cash flow next year. Expected year-end cash ~$50M after ~$90M spent across the four projects this year.

27:14 2027 priorities: debt-free first

"We want to be hedge free and we got hedge free and now we want to be debt free" — by end of 2027.
Lucky Shot feasibility early in H2 2027; Johnson Tract tunnelling; Kitsault drops from five rigs to about two while the ~50-year-old Tidewater-to-Torbrit road is re-permitted and upgraded.

29:02 Valuation: a royalty plus self-funded juniors

Not P/E: "we're more like a royalty company. Kinross does all the work and we get a dividend check once a quarter" — and cash-flow guidance has been met every year.
Value each project as its own junior that "didn't need to finance it": Johnson Tract's initial assessment (PEA equivalent) is >$600M NPV at $4,000 gold; Kitsault's resource is 65 Moz silver and growing without dilution.

30:48 33 million shares

Most junior producers carry "three or four or 500 million shares outstanding." With 33M, "if you want leverage to gold on a per share basis, I don't think anybody really comes close."
Sign-off: the company is Contango Silver and Gold (CTG in New York and Toronto); the website stays contangoore.com.

3. In plain English

A jargon-free summary of the thesis behind each pick — what it actually is and why he holds that view. (Plain-language companion to the table above; renders on each ticker's consolidated page.)

CTGO — Contango Silver and Gold Positive

Contango is a small gold and silver miner formed by merging Contango ORE (Alaska) with Dolly Varden Silver (British Columbia); it now trades as CTG. Its one producing asset is a 30% stake in the Manh Choh mine in Alaska. Kinross owns the other 70% and runs everything: a contractor digs the ore and trucks it to Kinross's existing Fort Knox processing plant. Contango never had to build a plant or a tailings dam (the pond where processed waste rock is stored), which is why it got into production cheaply and quickly. This year is deliberately weak — mining is moving between pits, so output is low and costs high — but next year the richer ore arrives and Contango's share should rise to about 75,000 ounces.

The growth plan repeats the same trick. Lucky Shot, Johnson Tract and Kitsault are all meant to be dug and shipped to someone else's plant (or a plant Contango buys) rather than built from scratch. That only works if the rock is rich enough to pay for the trucking, which is why he insists on a real mine plan at 10–12 grams of gold per tonne, not a one-off test shipment. Skipping the plant and tailings dam also shortens permitting, which he says is the step that usually traps small miners for 5–10 years.

His case for the stock is about arithmetic. Treat the Manh Choh stake like a royalty — Contango just collects a cheque each quarter — and use that cash to build the other projects instead of selling new shares. With only 33 million shares outstanding (most peers have hundreds of millions), every dollar of profit or every move in the gold or silver price is spread over far fewer shares. He plans to be debt-free by the end of 2027. Keep in mind this is the CEO, speaking in a segment his company paid for.

Victoria Gold — Eagle mine Negative

Summary & timestamps derived from the public YouTube video (transcript in transcript.html) for personal study. Contango is a sponsor of Mining Stock Education. Not investment advice. © MiningStockEducation.com / Contango Silver and Gold for source material.