Contango, a junior mining company, has achieved a significant milestone by successfully bringing a mine into production. CEO Carl Esprey acknowledges the challenges faced during the process but expresses his excitement about the company's achievement of producing a high-quality coking coal product, which will soon translate into revenue generation.

The Wirtgen surface miner, capable of mining up to 1,000 tons per hour of coking coal, has already established stockpiles of coking coal. The miner continues to extract coal and increase the stockpiles at the wash plant.

Contango plans to conduct further studies to optimize washed coal production and intends to send samples to potential long-term buyers. This includes their potential strategic partner as per a memorandum of understanding, in addition to existing offtake agreements for 10,000 tons per month of washed coal.

All coking coal produced, including samples, will be sold at the factory gate. Contango's focus will now shift to expanding options at the Lubu site. Esprey reveals their plans to manufacture coke at Lubu, a move expected to significantly increase profit margins from $80 per ton to over $300 per ton at current pricing. Discussions with potential strategic partners are ongoing to pursue this avenue and unlock the vast revenue potential offered by the extensive scale of the Lubu site.