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Note 1 - Organization and Business | 12 Months Ended
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Jun. 30, 2021
Notes to Financial Statements |
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Text Block] | 1. Organization and Business Contango ORE, Inc. (“CORE” or the “Company”) engages in exploration for gold, silver and copper ores in Alaska. The Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, CORE Alaska, LLC (“CORE Alaska”) has a 30.0% membership interest in Peak Gold, LLC (the “Joint Venture Company”), which leases approximately 675,000 acres from the Tetlin Tribal Council (the "Tetlin Lease") and approximately 13,000 State of Alaska mining claims for exploration and development. The Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Contango Minerals, LLC (“Contango Minerals”) also owns 100% interest in the mineral rights to approximately 200,000 acres of State of Alaska mining claims located north and northwest of the Tetlin Lease. During the first calendar quarter of 2021, the Company staked a new property called Shamrock in the Richardson Mining District located in central Alaska, along the Alaska Hwy corridor approximately 70 miles from Fairbanks, Alaska. The property includes a total of 361 Alaska state mining claims covering approximately 52,640 acres. The Company is in an exploration stage. The Company's fiscal year end is June 30. On January 8, 2015, the Company and a subsidiary of Royal Gold, Inc. (“Royal Gold”) formed the Joint Venture Company. The Company contributed a 100% leasehold interest in an estimated 675,000 acres (the “Tetlin Lease”) from the Tetlin Tribal Council, the council formed by the governing body for the Native Village of Tetlin, an Alaska Native Tribe (the “Tetlin Tribal Council”); and State of Alaska mining claims near Tok, Alaska (together with other property, the “Peak Gold Joint Venture Property”), and Royal Gold made an initial investment into the Joint Venture Company of $5.0 million. By September 29, 2020, Royal Gold had contributed approximately $37.1 million to the Joint Venture Company and earned a cumulative economic interest of 40.0%. The proceeds from the investments were used for exploration of the Peak Gold Joint Venture Property. Royal Gold served as the manager of the Joint Venture Company and managed, directed, and controlled operations of the Joint Venture Company until the Kinross Transactions (described below). On September 29, 2020, the Company, CORE Alaska, LLC and KG Mining (Alaska), Inc. (“KG Mining”), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corporation, a corporation formed under the laws of Ontario, Canada (“Kinross”), entered into a Purchase Agreement (the “CORE Purchase Agreement”), pursuant to which CORE Alaska sold a 30.0% membership interest (the “CORE JV Interest”) in the Joint Venture Company, to KG Mining (the “CORE Transactions”). Kinross is a large gold producer with a diverse global portfolio and has extensive operating experience in Alaska. The CORE Transactions closed on September 30, 2020. In consideration for the CORE JV Interest, the Company received $32.4 million in cash and 809,744 shares of the Company's common stock, par value $0.01 per share (the “Common Stock”). The 809,744 shares of Common Stock were acquired by KG Mining from Royal Gold, as part of the Royal Gold Transactions (described below) and were subsequently canceled by the Company. Of the $32.4 million cash consideration, $1.2 million constituted a reimbursement prepayment to the Company by KG Mining of amounts relating to CORE Alaska's proportionate share of certain silver royalty payments that the Joint Venture Company may be obligated to pay to Royal Gold, with the understanding that because of such reimbursements, KG Mining would bear the entire economic impact of those silver royalty payments due from the Joint Venture Company. Concurrently with the closing of the CORE Transactions, KG Mining, in a separate transaction, acquired from Royal Gold (i) 100% of the equity of Royal Alaska, LLC (“Royal Alaska”), which held a 40.0% membership interest in the Joint Venture Company and (ii) 809,744 shares of Common Stock held by Royal Gold (the “Royal Gold Transactions” and, together with the CORE Transactions, the “Kinross Transactions”). After the consummation of the Kinross Transactions, CORE Alaska retained a 30.0% membership interest in the Joint Venture Company, and KG Mining obtained a 70.0% membership interest in the Joint Venture Company (though the joint venture partners changed after the consummation of the Kinross Transactions, the legal entity remains Peak Gold, LLC, thus it will continue to be referred to as the “Joint Venture Company” throughout the document). KG Mining serves as the manager and operator of the Joint Venture Company. KG Mining and CORE Alaska entered into the Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of the Joint Venture Company (the “A&R JV LLCA”) on October 1, 2020 to address the new ownership arrangements and to incorporate additional terms that will permit the Joint Venture Company to further develop and produce from its properties. Prior to the Kinross Transactions, the Joint Venture Company, the Company, Contango Minerals, CORE Alaska, Royal Gold and Royal Alaska entered into a Separation and Distribution Agreement, dated as of September 29, 2020 ( the “Separation Agreement”). Pursuant to the Separation Agreement, the Joint Venture Company completed the formation of Contango Minerals and contributed approximately 167,000 acres of Alaska state mining claims to it and a 1.0% net smelter returns royalty interest on certain of the contributed Alaska state mining claims. After the formation and contribution to Contango Minerals, the Joint Venture Company made simultaneous distributions to Royal Alaska and CORE Alaska by (i) granting to Royal Gold a new 28.0% net smelter returns silver royalty on all silver produced from a defined area within the Tetlin Lease and also transferring the additional 1.0% net smelter returns royalty on the contributed Alaska state mining claims to Royal Gold and (ii) assigning 100% of the membership interests in Contango Minerals to CORE Alaska, which were in turn distributed to the Company, resulting in Contango Minerals becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. The Separation Agreement contains customary representations, warranties and covenants. In connection with the Separation Agreement, the Joint Venture Company and Contango Minerals entered into an Option Agreement, dated as of September 29, 2020 ( the “Option Agreement”). Under the Option Agreement, Contango Minerals granted the Joint Venture Company an option, subject to certain conditions contained in the Option Agreement, to purchase approximately 13,000 acres of the Alaska state mining claims which were contributed to Contango Minerals pursuant to the Separation Agreement, together with all extralateral rights, water and water rights, and easements and rights of way in connection therewith, that are held by Contango Minerals. Subject to the conditions in the Option Agreement, the Joint Venture Company had the right to exercise the option to purchase the Alaska state mining claims, in whole or in part, at an exercise price of $50,000. The Joint Venture Company exercised this option in whole in June 2021 and paid the Company, $50,000. In February 2021, the Village of Tetlin Tribal Council approved a new name, “The Manh Choh Project,” for the Peak Gold Joint Venture. The renaming was a result of close consultation with the local Upper Tanana Athabascan Village of Tetlin on whose land the project is situated. The name ‘Manh Choh' (“mon-CHO”) can be translated from the Upper Tanana Athabascan language to “Big Lake,” referring to the nearby Tetlin Lake, a site of high cultural and subsistence significance for the community. The Company has been involved in the exploration on the Manh Choh Joint Venture Property, formerly the “Peak Gold Joint Venture Property,” for eleven years, which has resulted in identifying two mineral deposits (Peak and North Peak) and several other gold, silver, and copper prospects. The Joint Venture Company plans to mine ore from the Peak and North Peak deposits and then process the ore at the existing Fort Knox mining and milling complex located approximately 250 miles away. The use of the Fort Knox mill is expected to accelerate the development of the Manh Choh Joint Venture Property and result in significantly reduced upfront capital development costs, smaller environmental footprint, a shorter permitting and development timeline and less overall execution risk for the Joint Venture Company to advance the Peak and North Peak deposits to a production decision. On December 10, 2020, the Management Committee approved a total budget of $18.0 million for the calendar year 2021 to undertake in-fill drilling, engineering and environmental studies necessary to complete a feasibility-level study, additional exploration, community relations, and to prepare the project for formal permitting. On June 22, 2021 the Management Committee voted to increase the exploration budget by $0.2 million for interpretation of archive drilling, adopting oriented core and geological consulting. The Company's proportionate share of the approved budget is approximately $5.5 million. As of June 30, 2021, the Company had funded approximately $2.5 million to the Joint Venture Company during calendar year 2021. In addition, the Company plans to fund an approximately $3.0 million exploration program to continue its exploration efforts on its earlier stage Eagle and Hona projects located immediately north of the Manh Choh project area, and to explore for additional resources on 100% -owned Triple Z prospect in late 2021, focused on the areas immediately adjacent to the known Joint Venture Company resources. Field activities began on the Eagle/Hona prospect in July 2021. The Company's 30.0% membership interest in the Joint Venture Company, its ownership of Contango Minerals, and cash on hand constitute substantially all of the Company's assets. The Company has no debt.

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