Fortitude Gold (OTCMKTS:FTCO) used its 2025 year-end conference call to review what CEO and President Jason Reid described as the company’s most challenging year to date, while outlining operational changes, newly issued mine permits, and a stepped-up exploration strategy supported by both a February 2026 equity raise and a newly announced joint venture at its East Camp Douglas property.
2025 results and operational backdrop
Reid said 2025 results included $18.4 million in net sales, a $4.7 million cash balance at December 31, 2025, and $29.5 million of working capital. The company reported producing 5,236 gold ounces and 32,809 silver ounces during the year, paying $5.8 million in dividends, and generating $0.4 million in net income and $10 million in mine gross profit. Fortitude also reported $6.3 million of exploration expenditures, $1,104 total cash after byproduct credits per gold ounce sold, $1,697 per ounce total all-in sustaining cost, and 611 gold ounce rounds or bullion at year-end.
Reid also described an unplanned effort to access “Pearl Deep” mineralization at the bottom of the Isabella Pearl open pit, saying the company depleted cash reserves for much of 2025 by removing waste to access deeper mineralization. Reid said the alternative would have been to stop mining while waiting for permitting progress.
New permits and a shift to owner-operator mining
Reid said the company received new mine permits for County Line (issued in September 2025) and Scarlet South (issued more recently), and also received a permit related to connecting the Isabella Pearl operation to the Nevada power grid. Reid framed the approvals as marking a change in momentum for the company as it pursues additional permits to extend operational longevity.
As part of broader cost and efficiency efforts, Fortitude said it terminated its mine contractor in September 2025 after a review of operating economics and transitioned to an owner-operator model, bringing its mining fleet and workforce in-house. Reid said the company expects economies of scale as tonnage increases from operating multiple mines, and it projects lower per-ton mining costs and improved operational control.
Capital raise and processing capacity investments
Reid said that after year-end, in February 2026, Fortitude completed a private placement of 2.5 million shares of restricted stock at $4.75 per share for $12 million in proceeds. He said the restricted shares must be held for at least six months and that the company now has 26.8 million shares outstanding. Reid described the financing as a strategic decision intended to help advance two newly permitted mines into production, restart drilling programs, and pursue additional mine permits.
In the Q&A, Reid responded to a question about dilution by emphasizing the company’s share count relative to other miners and said management did not take the decision lightly.
Addressing processing capacity, Reid said Fortitude installed a larger crushing system at Isabella Pearl, replacing a crusher rated at about 250 tons per hour with a new system rated at about 800 tons per hour. He added that the company is planning a heap leach expansion in 2026, noting it has space now but expects to need additional capacity as ore comes from multiple areas.
Exploration targets along the Isabella Pearl trend
Reid said that with drill budgets reduced during 2025, Fortitude’s geology team shifted toward mapping and rock chip sampling, identifying multiple targets near Isabella Pearl. He highlighted four areas on the east end of the Isabella Pearl trend that he said could potentially host another Isabella Pearl-like deposit, and he singled out Prospect Mountain as a target with what he described as analogous vertical mineralized extent to Isabella Pearl’s oxide horizon, along with a small silica lithocap.
Reid also said the company now has an additional notice of intent (NOI) to drill at Scarlet North and expects to bring a drill to the area “as soon as possible” using proceeds from the equity raise. He said Fortitude is also pursuing an exploration environmental assessment (EA) along the broader Isabella Pearl trend to enable exploration over larger areas more efficiently than the typical five-acre NOI process.
When asked about normalized quarterly production once three mines ramp in 2026, Reid declined to provide guidance, saying the company has “so many balls in the air” while bringing on two new mines and that any forecast would likely be wrong.
East Camp Douglas joint venture and other Q&A themes
Reid highlighted a joint venture announced March 2, 2026: a $40 million strategic JV with Hawthorne Land & Minerals, LLC at East Camp Douglas. He said Fortitude will retain a 60% ownership interest and remain operator, while Hawthorne funds up to $40 million over an expected two-year period. Reid said Fortitude does not expect to spend its own funds on the JV until the $40 million is fully spent, after which costs would be shared pro rata.
Reid described East Camp Douglas as a district-sized property with a southern mineralized lithocap and northern high-grade veins, and said the JV proceeds are expected to fund drilling, exploration surveys, and baseline and technical studies. Asked about Hawthorne, Reid said the firm is an “extremely affluent, non-public company” that prioritizes privacy.
Other topics addressed in Q&A included:
- Heap leach inventory and residual recovery: Reid cautioned against relying on residual recovery forecasting from historic material on the heap, emphasizing the importance of placing new ore.
- Pearl Deep economics: Reid said he could not provide a return-on-investment estimate, noting Pearl Deep was not part of the original plan and involved uncertainty about transitional versus sulfide ore.
- Drilling availability: Reid said he expects drill crews to be difficult to secure as gold prices rise, and said Fortitude is attempting to lock up rigs and crews via longer contracts; he also said prior efforts to bring drilling in-house “just didn’t work” for the company.
- Lease liabilities: Reid said financial lease liabilities on the balance sheet likely reflect mining equipment leases following the move to in-house mining.
- Sulfide stockpile: Reid said the company has a large sulfide gold stockpile and is considering selling it to a major that could transport and process it; he added the company cannot process sulfide ore in its current setup.
- Dividends: Reid said management would like to increase dividends over time but suggested it would take time; he also said the company is unlikely to resume a prior approach used at a previous company to deliver dividends in physical gold, though shareholders can purchase the company’s silver rounds through its website.
In closing remarks, Reid read from a February 23, 2026 U.S. Department of the Interior press release describing reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures, which he said could accelerate project approvals. Reid reiterated that Fortitude’s ability to execute its plan depends heavily on permitting and said the company is focused on ramping newly permitted mines and accelerating exploration activity in 2026.
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.
