Fortitude Gold (OTCMKTS:FTCO) reported second-quarter 2026 gold production of 2,133 ounces, up 210% from the first quarter, while posting net income of $0.6 million, or $0.02 per share, Chief Executive Officer Jason Reid said during the company’s Aug. 5 earnings call.
The company recorded $8.2 million in net sales, $5.4 million in mine gross profit and $4.7 million in exploration expenditures during the quarter. Fortitude Gold ended June with $13.5 million in cash and $35.4 million in working capital. It also completed a $5.5 million private placement and paid $0.8 million in dividends.
Costs, Production and Heap-Leach Operations
For the Isabella Pearl mine, Fortitude Gold reported total cash costs after by-product credits of $1,200 per gold ounce sold and total all-in sustaining costs of $2,549 per ounce. At County Line, cash costs after by-product credits were $1,326 per gold ounce sold, while all-in sustaining costs were $1,886 per ounce.
Reid said the company does not plan to provide production guidance yet because it is mining from three deposits with different recovery profiles and commingling material on its heap-leach pad. He said management’s objective is for production to continue increasing, but added that any formal forecast at this stage could be inaccurate.
“We have seen some increases in production, which is good, and we hope that trend continues,” Reid said in response to a shareholder question about production trends and heap-leach recoveries.
He explained that newly placed ore can produce gold relatively quickly, while older ore on the heap continues to generate residual recoveries over a longer period. The company tracks ore grade and tonnage through blast-hole data before material reaches the pad, but ore from different mining areas is commingled once it is crushed and stacked.
Fortitude Gold has begun an expansion of the Isabella Pearl heap-leach pad after a contractor delay, according to Reid. The expansion will increase capacity horizontally and allow the company to build higher vertically on the pad.
County Line Layback and Mine Development
The company is conducting a pit-wall layback at County Line to reach an estimated 40,000 ounces of higher-grade gold mineralization in the main pit. Reid said access to that material is targeted for late 2027 and could support roughly two years of production, though the timing depends partly on how long mining continues at Isabella Pearl Deep and Scarlet South.
Fortitude Gold is currently mining lower-grade material from the County Line East pit. Reid told analyst John Bair of Ascend Wealth that mining activities are expected to overlap as the company allocates equipment among Isabella Pearl, Scarlet South, County Line East and the County Line layback.
“There likely will be mining probably from Scarlet South while we continue to pull from County Line East pit and do the pushback,” Reid said.
He said the company may redeploy equipment from Isabella Pearl to County Line once mining at Isabella Pearl Deep is complete. Fortitude Gold does not have a current resource estimate for the deeper Isabella Pearl material it is mining, Reid said, because the mineralization was not included in the original mine plan.
Grid Connection and Permitting Efforts
Fortitude Gold has connected its Isabella Pearl operation to the power grid. Reid said the company has seen approximately $75,000 in monthly energy-cost savings since the connection, although he cautioned that savings could vary based on several factors, including oil prices.
The company continues to advance permits for Golden Mile and Scarlet North. Reid said Golden Mile remains on a FAST-41 permitting schedule that indicates expected completion around April 2027. If the permit is received, Fortitude Gold plans to begin development in 2027.
Fortitude Gold has already acquired and assembled a modular processing facility for Golden Mile, which is currently stored at the Isabella Pearl laydown yard, Reid said.
Management is also pursuing larger environmental assessment exploration permits at East Camp Douglas and Isabella Pearl. Reid said such permits could allow exploration across more than 100 acres, compared with the five-acre areas available under notices of intent. The East Camp Douglas environmental assessment is currently in the National Environmental Policy Act process, he said.
Reid said the company’s permitting strategy is intended to secure mine and exploration permits for its core projects while it has the capacity to advance them.
Exploration Results and Capital Priorities
Fortitude Gold highlighted recent exploration results at Scarlet North, County Line and the East Camp joint venture with Hawthorne Land & Minerals. At Scarlet North, the company reported an intercept of 6.51 meters grading 2.28 grams per tonne gold within 24.38 meters grading 1.25 grams per tonne gold.
At County Line, Fortitude Gold reported 4.57 meters grading 2.23 grams per tonne gold within 22.86 meters grading 0.77 grams per tonne gold near surface and approximately 100 meters west of the Scarlet pit.
East Camp results included 3.05 meters grading 12.90 grams per tonne gold within 24.38 meters grading 3.89 grams per tonne gold, as well as 4.57 meters grading 10.24 grams per tonne gold within 28.96 meters grading 2.14 grams per tonne gold. The company also reported 9.14 meters grading 2.84 grams per tonne gold within 21.34 meters grading 1.43 grams per tonne gold at East Camp Douglas.
Reid said the Hawthorne joint venture, which includes a $40 million commitment, could enable Fortitude Gold to accelerate drilling if the larger exploration permit is approved. The company is prioritizing definition and expansion drilling at Scarlet North rather than preparing an initial resource estimate, he said.
Regarding financing, Reid said Fortitude Gold’s primary objective is to fund development through internally generated cash flow, though he noted that the company had used equity financing following earlier permitting delays. The company held 611 ounces of gold bullion at quarter-end and does not currently expect to add substantially to that bullion treasury as it allocates capital toward mine development.
About Fortitude Gold (OTCMKTS:FTCO)
Fortitude Gold Corporation is a U.S.-based gold producer and exploration company traded on the OTC Markets under the symbol FTCO. The company’s principal asset is the Pan Mine, an open-pit, heap-leach gold operation located on the prolific Carlin Trend in Elko County, Nevada. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Fortitude Gold Mining Company, it focuses on the extraction, processing and sale of gold dore bars to regional refineries.
The Pan Mine employs conventional open-pit mining techniques followed by carbon-in-leach processing to recover gold from low-grade ore.
