Contango Silver & Gold Inc. 10-Q

Item 1. Legal Proceedings The Company is a 30% owner of the Peak Gold JV, which operates the Manh Choh mine near Tok, Alaska. Ore from the mine is being trucked to the Fort Knox mill for processing via public roadways in state-of-the-art trucks carrying legal loads. Certain owners of vacation homes along the ore haul route and others claiming potential impact have organized a group to oppose the ore haul plan and 29 Table of Contents disrupt the project. These efforts have included administrative appeals of certain state mine permits unrelated to ore haul. To date, those appeals have been unsuccessful. On October 20, 2023, the Committee for Safe Communities (“CSC”), an Alaskan non-profit corporation inclusive of certain vacation homeowners along the Manh Choh ore haul route and others, filed suit (the “Complaint”) in the Superior Court for the State of Alaska in Fairbanks, Alaska (the “Superior Court”) against the State of Alaska, Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (the “DOT”), seeking injunctive relief with respect to CSC’s oversight of the Peak Gold JV’s ore haul plan. Ore from the Manh Choh mine is being trucked to the Fort Knox mill for processing via public roadways in state-of-the-art trucks carrying legal loads. The Complaint alleges that the DOT has approved a haul route and trucking plan for the Manh Choh project that violates DOT regulations, DOT’s actions have created an unreasonable risk to public safety constituting an attractive public nuisance, and DOT has aided and abetted the offense of negligent driving. On November 2, 2023, CSC filed a motion for preliminary injunction. On November 9, 2023, the Peak Gold JV filed a motion to intervene in this lawsuit, which was granted on November 15, 2023. On January 15, 2024, Peak Gold and DOT jointly moved for judgment on the pleadings and to stay all discovery. On May 14, 2024, the Court issued an Order denying the plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction and staying discovery. On June 24, 2024, the Court issued an Order granting judgment on the pleadings as to three of the four claims for relief alleged in the Complaint and denying relief as to the claim for public nuisance. The Order further lifted the stay of discovery. On July 3, 2024, the DOT filed motion for reconsideration as to the Court’s Order on the motion for judgment on the pleadings, which Peak Gold joined. At a scheduling conference on July 16, 2024, the Court ordered plaintiff to respond to the motion for reconsideration and set a trial for August 11, 2025. On July 1, 2024, the Village of Dot Lake, a federally recognized Indian Tribe, located approximately 50 miles from the Manh Choh mine on the ore haul route along the Alaska Highway (“Dot Lake”), filed a complaint in the U.S District Court for the District of Alaska against U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”) and Lt. General Scott A. Spellmon, in his official capacity as Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the Corps. The complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief based on the Corps’ alleged failure to consult with Dot Lake and to undertake an adequate environmental review with respect to the Corps’ issuance in September 2022 of a wetlands disturbance permit in connection with the overall permitting of the Manh Choh mine as to approximately 5 acres of wetlands located on Tetlin Village land. Peak Gold is not named as a defendant in the Complaint and it is evaluating its options with respect to protecting its interests in continuing to operate the Manh Choh mine.