CTGO Is NIA’s Next Discovery Silver

How Discovery Silver Reached a $6.423 Billion Valuation…
And Why Contango ORE (NYSE American: CTGO) May Be Next

Most investors have no idea why Discovery Silver (TSX: DSV) is worth $6.423 billion today. They assume it is because the company purchased the Porcupine assets from Newmont… but that is not the real reason.

Porcupine is a solid mid-tier gold complex, but it was non-core to Newmont. If the market truly wanted Porcupine exposure, they could simply buy Newmont itself, which owns higher quality, larger scale projects with lower costs.

The reality is this:

At least $1–$2 billion of Discovery Silver’s valuation is driven by “future belief” in the development of the Cordero Silver Project.

And that belief only exists because Eric Sprott backed the deal, Discovery gained credibility, and Discovery gained the ability to fund development.

NIA’s President discovered Cordero long before Eric Sprott. On July 1, 2014, NIA publicly suggested Levon Resources at $0.285 per share at a market cap of $57 million, when Levon had $41 million in cash. That meant Levon’s enterprise value for the Cordero Silver Project was an insanely low $16 million.

Eric Sprott’s Discovery Silver later acquired NIA’s Levon Resources for 0.55 shares of Discovery for each Levon share. Discovery Silver’s recent all-time high of $8.48 per share × 0.55 = the equivalent of $4.664 per Levon share, a gain of 1,536.49% since NIA’s Levon suggestion at $0.285 per share.

The rocks at Cordero have not changed. What changed was the market’s belief that Cordero could actually be financed, permitted, and built.

This is the blueprint for massive wealth creation in the silver and gold sector:

Optionality + Credibility + Capital = Multi-Billion Dollar Re-Rating

Right now, NIA believes the same formula is setting up again — this time with Contango ORE (CTGO) and the Dolly Varden assets.

Dolly Varden controls one of the highest-grade undeveloped silver districts in North America:

• Average silver grades often around 300 g/t, with intervals exceeding 1,000 g/t.
• Multiple past-producing high-grade mines on the same structural trend.
• Roughly 200,000 meters of drilling that have not yet been incorporated into its NI 43-101 resource.
• Tier-one jurisdiction in Canada’s Golden Triangle.
• Backed by major institutional shareholders including Hecla, Fidelity, BlackRock, and Eric Sprott.

Yet the market still valued Dolly Varden like “just another silver explorer that will never build a mine.”

Why? Because Dolly Varden lacked the same things Levon lacked:

• No operating cash flow.
• No proven development/production team.
• No internal ability to fully self-fund a mine build.
• No permitting tailwinds like FAST-41.
• No flagship producing asset that the market could anchor valuation to.

That changes instantly with the merger into Contango.

With this business combination, the new Contango Silver & Gold will have:

• $100+ million per year of free cash flow from the Manh Choh DSO operation at current metal prices, giving the company the internal cash it needs to aggressively explore and develop its pipeline without heavy dilution.
• A dual listing on the NYSE American and the TSX main board, with combined trading liquidity estimated at roughly $9 million per day and growing ETF inclusion.
• Dolly Varden’s ultra-high-grade silver and gold-rich Kitsault Valley district, which has the potential to become one of the most attractive silver development projects in the world outside of Mexico.
• FAST-41 permitting support for Johnson Tract, placing one of CTGO’s key U.S. assets inside the federal government’s top-tier project coordination framework.
• Contango’s proven Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) model, which eliminates the need for on-site mills and tailings facilities, cutting capex, shrinking environmental footprint, and accelerating permitting.
• A 20+ year project pipeline that includes Manh Choh, Lucky Shot, Johnson Tract, and Kitsault Valley, with additional M&A potential.
• A leadership team with multiple billion-dollar wins, including NovaGold (NG) and Trilogy Metals (TMQ) combined with Dolly Varden’s Golden Triangle discovery team.

This is exactly how Discovery Silver went from pure optionality to a $6.4 billion market cap: first by acquiring Cordero, then by adding credibility and cash flow, and finally by convincing the market that Cordero would realistically be built.

The path is now structurally similar for Contango — but with even higher grades and lower capex thanks to the DSO model.

Discovery Silver’s multi-billion-dollar valuation is driven largely by investor belief that the Cordero Project will ultimately be permitted, financed, and brought into production.

Just like Levon before Discovery, Dolly Varden was never fully valued on its own. As part of a cash-flowing, development-focused Contango, NIA believes the market will now begin to assign the type of long-term premium that has already been awarded to Discovery Silver.

Past performance is not an indicator of future returns. NIA is not an investment advisor. Always do your own research. NIA’s President has purchased 5,000 shares of CTGO in the open market and intends to buy more shares. NIA has received compensation from CTGO of US$80,000 cash for a ten-month marketing contract. This message is for informational and educational purposes only.