Contango finishes Johnson Tract access road and builds camp pad a year ahead of plan

Contango Silver & Gold Inc. finished a 2.6-mile access road at its Johnson Tract gold project this season and built a camp pad it had not planned to build until 2027, according to a corporate update the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

The road runs from the existing camp to the proposed portal site, the planned entrance to an underground exploration tunnel the company intends to start building in 2027. Crews also finished an equipment and storage area at the portal. The company said the work came in ahead of schedule and under budget, and that savings during the season let it build the camp pad as well.

The pad will hold a planned 60-person, fully winterized camp that would allow year-round operations as Contango moves the project toward feasibility-level work, the filing said. The company has selected an engineering consultant for the camp's construction, targeted for 2027. Environmental studies continued through the season to support permitting, the company said.

Contango leases mineral rights to about 21,000 acres near tidewater, 125 miles southwest of Anchorage, from CIRI. The project falls under FAST-41, a federal program under which agencies coordinate environmental and permit reviews, covering the mine, a transportation corridor and a port facility, according to the federal permitting record. Lake Clark National Park and Preserve lands are involved through easements for the corridor and port access.

Cook Inletkeeper, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council sued over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit for the road and bridges, according to a Cook Inletkeeper summary. They argued the permitting process failed to analyze the risk of acid mine drainage and the impact on endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales. Judge Sharon L. Gleason ruled against them Sept. 14, as Alaska News reported Sept. 28. By then the company had already finished building the road and bridges.

The state has also acted on the project. A May 4 comment letter from conservation groups, Alaska Native tribes and local businesses asked the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to deny an amendment to the project's reclamation plan covering closure of the portal, a dewatering pipeline and an infiltration basin, saying it had data gaps and an insufficient bond. The department approved the amendment and a temporary water-use authorization in July.