i-80 Gold continues to develop its projects around Nevada (2024)

For the first quarter of this year, i-80 Gold Corp. reported an adjusted loss of nearly $20.11 million, or 7 cents per share, as the company continued project development, along with the sale of 2,486 ounces of gold.

“We’re still a development company, not a miner,” the company’s chief executive officer, Ewan Downie, said in an investment day presentation on May 14 in Toronto, stating that as a business it will be several years before i-80 Gold is “cash flow positive.”

He said the company had to slow things down in 2023, but since receiving new funds plans to advance its projects, including completing the feasibility study for Granite Creek for a decision on commercial production there. Test mining continues, however.

Downie said i-80 Gold will “perform very strongly this year,” and i-80 Gold has an advantage with its high-grade deposits because companies that survive the ups and downs of the market are those with higher ore grades.

The Reno-based company sold 10,167 tons of mineralized material for $3.2 million under its ore sale agreement from the Granite Creek underground mine in Humboldt County, and i-80 Gold added 28,500 tons of mineralized material to the stockpile at Granite Creek.

A total of 2,042 ounces of gold were sold from Lone Tree from residual leaching, as well, at a realized price of $2,097 per ounce, according to i-80’s May 13 quarterly update. The update showed revenue was $8.41 million in the first quarter, compared with $4.55 million in the 2023 quarter.

Ruby Hill Mine in Eureka County’s residual leaching totaled 444 gold ounces sold at an average realized price of $2,016 per ounce.

The adjusted net loss compared with a loss of $18.65 million, or 8 cents per share, in the 2023 quarter. The net loss without adjustments was $15.72 million, compared with $13.12 million in the first quarter of last year.

The average realized gold price for all of the company’s first-quarter sales was $2,083 per ounce, up from $1,928 per ounce in the first quarter of 2023.

Looking at its properties in Nevada, i-80 reported that there was 3,178 feet of horizontal underground development at Granite Creek, and a top priority there is management of increased water flows into the underground workings.

The company said that dewatering well No. 6 was completed, and a second water discharge line was commissioned in the first quarter from the underground workings at Granite Creek, which is south of Nevada Gold Mines’ Turquoise Ridge operations.

Exploration is continuing at McCoy-Cove south of Battle Mountain. I-80 Gold says it expects McCoy-Cove to be the highest-grade gold deposit in its portfolio and the core asset of the company’s “hub and spoke” business plan.

Downie said there are two drills operating at McCoy-Cove, and a feasibility study is expected in 2025. He also told investors that there is a polymetallic deposit at McCoy-Cove that has “yet to be followed up.”

The company achieved high-grade infill drilling results at the Helen and Gap Zones, with 3,594 feet of drilling completed in the first quarter, according to the report.

At Ruby Hill on the outskirts of the town of Eureka, the focus in the first quarter was on infill drilling of the Hilltop zones for metallurgical sampling that ties in with the company’s potential joint venture.

The company said that 4,032 feet of core drilling was completed at Ruby Hill in the first quarter, fully funded by the potential joint venture partner, whose name hasn’t been disclosed, to complete due diligence during the exclusivity period.

There also was residual leaching at Ruby Hill, with 444 ounces produced and sold at a realized gold price of $2,016 per ounce, according to the earnings report. The report states that as the leach pad nears the end of its production cycle, i-80 Gold continues to analyze the break-even cost and anticipates the leach pad will cease production this year.

Downie said work continues toward establishing a joint venture with the potential partner at Ruby Hill, and the partner is more interested in the base metals than the gold deposits.

Meanwhile, permitting continues for an underground mine with portals at the bottom of the Archimedes open pit at Ruby Hill, as well as on continued planning for conversion of the mill to one that can process base metals, according to i-80 Gold.

Residual leaching is continuing at Lone Tree along Interstate 80. The company expects Lone Tree to be the hub of operations because of its facilities, which include an autoclave that will process ore from the Granite Creek, McCoy-Cove, and Ruby Hill underground gold deposits.

The company also is continuing to review value engineering studies and total refurbishment costs for the autoclave at Lone Tree.

To boost finances, i-80 Gold completed a public offering of nearly 69.7 million units for gross proceeds of $84.23 million in U.S. dollars. Each unit included one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant of i-80 Gold.

“The extension of the delivery requirements under the gold prepay and silver purchase agreements with Orion Mine Finance, coupled with the recently completed bought deal public offering, significantly enhance our financial flexibility and positions the company to continue to executive its plans,” the company’s chief financial officer, Ryan Snow, said in the earnings report.

“We continue to advance exploration and definition drilling at Granite Creek and McCoy-Cove and permitting activities at our projects, allowing the company to advance our projects towards the ultimate goal of building a mid-tier Nevada-focused producer,” he said.

In a separate May 14 announcement, i-80 Gold reported new high-grade results from the ongoing drill program at Granite Creek designed to define mineralization in the upper part of the South Pacific Zone.

The latest results are from seven new holes drilled in the underground drilling campaign focused on the South Pacific Zone, which is immediately north of the current mine workings and is expected to become the primary mining zone.

The company said initial mining stopes in the SPZ are planned once mine workings are extended to provide access.

In an earlier announcement on the ramp-up of exploration and development at Granite Creek, the company stated that the 2024 drilling program follows underground and surface drilling in 2023 and will be accelerated in advance of completion of the feasibility study for the underground mining operation.

“The ongoing surface and underground drilling program at Granite Creek continues to confirm impressive high-grade gold mineralization, including over substantial widths,” said Tyler Hill, chief geologist of i-80.