Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

16. Commitments and Contingencies

Lease and Purchase Commitments

The Company’s corporate headquarters office lease in Golden, Colorado expired in January 2025. Payments associated with the lease were recorded to rent expense by the Company in the amounts of $199,000 and $183,000 for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

The Company has payments associated with exploration concessions the Company owns. The Company has not completed exploration work on these concessions and the Company has the right to terminate the payments and release the concessions at any time.

Unifin Lawsuit

During April 2021, the Company became aware of a lawsuit in Mexico against one of the Company’s Mexican subsidiaries, Minera William, S.A. de C.V. (“Minera William”). The plaintiff in the matter was Unifin Financiera, S.A.B de C.V. (“Unifin”). The lawsuit was assigned to the Fifth Specialized Commercial District Court. In November 2022, the Company was formally served with the complaint in connection with the lawsuit and in December 2022 the Company filed its answer to the complaint. As a preemptive measure, Unifin obtained a preliminary court order freezing Minera William’s bank accounts in Mexico, which limited the Company’s and Minera William’s ability to access approximately US$153,000 according to current currency exchange rates.

The Company and Unifin agreed to settle the dispute in late 2023. An accrued liability was recorded for the settlement amount of $250,000 as of December 31, 2023 and for $113,000 as of March 31, 2024. During the first quarter

of 2024, the Court unfroze the Minera William bank accounts, and the bank remitted the funds to Unifin as per the settlement agreement. Subsequent to March 31, 2024, the Company paid Unifin the remaining amount due under the agreement upon settlement. The court published a writ subsequent to March 31, 2024 stating that the parties had complied with the settlement agreement and declared that Unifin has withdrawn the lawsuit against Minera William.

On June 13, 2024, the Trial Court published the judgment in the commercial oral proceeding initiated by Unifin against Minera William, Procesadora de Minerales de Durango, and Jorge Alberto Samaniego Mota. Since Unifin and Minera William had previously settled the dispute and Unifin desisted or withdrew its action against Minera William, the company was not condemned in the judgment. Procesadora de Minerales de Durango and Jorge Alberto Samaniego Mota were ordered to pay all the amounts claimed by Unifin. However, the judgment states that Minera William, Procesadora de Minerales de Durango, and Jorge Samaniego Mota are jointly and severally liable to Unifin. The Company believes the Judge should not have ruled on whether or not Minera William was jointly and severally liable. Moreover, the Judge did not assess Minera William’s arguments that it was not jointly and severally liable to Unifin. Minera William is appealing that ruling as it is clearly contrary to the settlement agreement between Unifin and Minera William. The Company currently believes that it is unlikely any future liability will arise from this judgement.

Claims Related to Shutdown or Reduction of Operations

Ten former employees of some of the Company’s Mexican subsidiaries filed labor claims in 2024 against the subsidiary companies claiming the companies had not compensated them properly for their termination. A severance accrual has been estimated and recorded in connection with these lawsuits for $230,000.

One supplier of some of the Mexican subsidiaries filed a lawsuit in 2024 against the subsidiary companies for non-payment for services rendered. In total, the supplier is seeking approximately $55,000 and this amount is recorded in accounts payable as of December 31, 2024.

As a result of the Company’s reduced or ceased operations in the US, Mexico, Argentina and Peru, the Company has been and may in the future be exposed to claims from former employees, labor unions, suppliers, consultants or contractors and tax and environmental claims, which may individually or in the aggregate be material.