Contango Celebrates Lucky Shot Activities in Hatcher Pass

Contango has its hands full with exploration opportunities at present. In addition to Lucky Shot, the company acquired the 21,000-acre Johnson Tract Project, which it is exploring for gold, silver, copper, zinc, and lead. Located on the west side of Cook Inlet, about 40 miles west of Ninilchik, the project was accepted last December into the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council’s FAST-41 permitting dashboard to streamline the lengthy permitting process.

Contango also has interests in the Kitsault Valley Project, a gold and silver venture in British Columbia. The Lucky Shot, Johnson Tract, and Kitsault Valley projects are all considered to be in “Advanced Exploration” status. The company has six more projects, all in Alaska, in the “Exploration” phase.

Heavy Load

Lucky Shot and its neighboring mines began producing in the early 1900s. Prospectors discovered gold in 1918, and the site produced gold from 1922 to 1942. It shut down not because the gold ran out but because the nation’s priorities were elsewhere.

“Between ‘28 to ‘42, operators produced about a quarter million ounces of gold,” Van Nieuwenhuyse says. “The War Act shut that down.”

Specifically, it was the 1942 federal order L-208, issued a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, which ordered gold mining in the US to cease so that equipment, power, and labor could be directed toward mining critical war minerals such as tungsten, copper, and iron.

While mining has occurred at Lucky Shot and its neighboring mines off and on since 1942, it hasn’t seen full-scale production. Contango hopes to get there: Van Nieuwenhuyse says the company is working on underground exploration, with two drilling rigs operating.

“We’ve got another good, solid year of exploration work to do, both underground and surface. We’re planning to work year-round here,” he says.

The mine has about thirty employees, Van Nieuwenhuyse says, and it’s been operating year-round for several years. Workers travel up the Willow-Fishhook side, he says; the road over the Hatcher Pass summit from Palmer-Fishhook Road is closed during winter.

Bona Fide Bonanza

Contango announced in May that Lucky Shot was proving to be more “lucky” than anticipated. During the first phase of its 2025/2026 underground drilling campaign, the results were promising. While “promising grade” is generally considered between 1 and 5 grams of gold per tonne of rock, and “bonanza grade” is generally considered to be higher than 20 grams of gold per tonne, four out of eleven measurements the company highlighted averaged higher than 20 grams per tonne, with the high points ranging from 24.29 to 74.50 grams per tonne.

“Our latest drilling at Lucky Shot has exceeded expectations, providing a better understanding of the system’s continuity and productivity. The presence of visible gold in multiple intervals is a powerful indicator of the high-grade nature of this deposit. By confirming these multiple vein structures, we have significantly expanded the underground footprint while continuing to de-risk the project. This is not just additional drill and assay data; it is a roadmap to expansion. These assays provide the critical momentum we need to accelerate our technical work and unlock the substantial scale we see inherent in this project,” Van Nieuwenhuyse said at the time.

The direct-shipping ore approach, as seen at Manh Choh, is only feasible with high ore percentages, Van Nieuwenhuyse says; otherwise, the company is paying to ship rocks. Trucks would likely carry around 500 tonnes of unprocessed ore to the railroad each day. By comparison, he notes, Manh Choh moves roughly 3,000 tonnes per day, equating to sixty round trips by truck—each carrying around 44 tonnes of ore—each day between the mine and the Fort Knox mill.

The processing facility at Fort Knox is large enough to accommodate additional ore with no need for expansion, Van Nieuwenhuyse says.
He adds, “We want to invest in Alaska. We love this place. You know, we’re all from here, and we think this is a great place to work and live.”

Damsel in Distress

While many at the open house commented that it was a beautiful day for a drive over Hatcher Pass, for Barbecue Babes owners Tim and Jennifer Farley, the drive was a little harrowing. Tim Farley says his rig, a heavy-duty Ford pickup and long, heavy food trailer, got hung up just below the summit of the pass, where the gravel turns into washboard. The truck couldn’t get traction and wouldn’t go further. Farley admits he and his wife were a little panicked.

Meanwhile, the Contango crew was checking their watches and wondering where the caterer was. Cellphone coverage in Hatcher Pass is notoriously spotty. So, worried that the Barbecue Babes were in distress, a helicopter pilot offered to take the AS350 ASTAR helicopter to find them. The pilot pinpointed their location, and the Contango crew sent someone out to tow them to safety.

But, in true Alaska fashion, rescue was already underway. A firefighter and paramedic driving through Hatcher Pass happened upon the Farleys and offered assistance. The firefighter took the driver’s seat and eased the rig over the pass.

“He goes, ‘You got about four miles to go.’ I said, ‘Free barbecue for a year if you just drive me there,’” Farley says. The firefighter agreed and got them safely to Contango’s site. “You know, sometimes you need help. Alaskans are there.”