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Carlin-type mineralization from a drill hole on i-80 Gold’s Ruby Hill property.

I-80 Gold Corp. has provided an update on the exploration and development programs at its properties in northern Nevada, as well as the initial cost estimate for the refurbishment of the company’s autoclave processing facility at Lone Tree.

Autoclave restart

A study of the autoclave processing facility at Lone Tree estimates the cost of restarting the facility at around $248 million.

The purpose to this study was to review the requirements to recommission the autoclave and carbon-in-leach plant to its nameplate operating capacity, modify the plant for processing in the alkaline environment, and update it in order to meet modern permitting requirements.

The study was completed by Hatch, and a third-party peer review was completed to better understand means and methods and conclusions, evaluate risks and confirm the study is consistent with industry standards. The project teams are now advancing a class III engineering study to further refine the refurbishment plan to provide sufficient detail for potential future project financing.

I-80 Gold has released the cost estimate for the restart of the autoclave processing facility at its Lone Tree property. The cost study was co…

The final Hatch report is expected to be completed in 2023.

I-80 Gold is currently reviewing its project development timeline by assessing the value of its gold and polymetallic resources, permitting timelines and financing requirements for the sequencing of the Lone Tree autoclave and a potential flotation plant at Ruby Hill.

In November 2022 i-80 announced a preliminary estimate of $6.9 million to restart the Ruby Hill mill and leach circuits to process oxide material, and a preliminary estimate of $65.7 million to convert the mill to a flotation plant.

A statement from i-80 Gold said the company “remains committed to growing its business in a capital conscience manner with a focus on maximizing shareholder value. A decision will be made on the optimal path forward once it has more thoroughly defined its mineral resources to advance economic studies and technical reports.”

I-80 Gold acquired the Lone Tree Complex near Interstate 80 west of Battle Mountain in late 2021 in an exchange with Nevada Gold Mines. NGM had the Lone Tree autoclave in care and maintenance. In the exchange, NGM acquired i-80’s 40% of the South Arturo mining property near the Goldstrike Mine, making NGM the 100% owner of South Arturo.

At the time of the transaction, i-80 CEO Ewan Downie said Lone Tree would become the “company hub.” He said the transaction positioned the company “to become one of Nevada’s most prominent producers with substantial processing infrastructure.”

Along with the autoclave, Lone Tree has a carbon-in-leach mill, flotation mill and a heap leach facility, providing i-80 with several ways to process gold and silver ore.

The exchange agreement allowed i-80 Gold to use NGM processing facilities while the Lone Tree facilities are readied for use.

Exploration updates

I-80 Gold has provided updates on exploration and development programs at its Ruby Hill, Granite Creek, Lone Tree, McCoy-Cove and Buffalo Mountain Properties, highlighting the progress that has been made at Ruby Hill.

I-80 said continued success in the early part of the 2023 exploration campaign at its 100%-owned Ruby Hill property in Eureka County “highlights the substantial upside at the company’s flagship project with multiple new zones of both Carlin-type gold and Carbonate Replacement Deposit type mineralization having been discovered in the early part of the program.”

“2023 is expected to be a catalyst-rich year with exploration, development, and mining projects complemented by economic studies and resource updates,” Ewan Downie said. “This work will continue to provide information so that we can make an informed decision related to the sequencing of the start-up of our two processing facilities to achieve our industry-best production growth plan.”

Four main initiatives are planned at Ruby Hill for 2023, including a large-scale exploration drilling program, initial economic work for the planned Ruby Deeps underground gold mine, permitting to allow for the commencement of underground development, and advanced metallurgical work for the recoveries of gold and polymetallic base metal mineralization for mining and processing planning.

Five drills are currently active, focused on expanding mineralization in the primary known zones and also testing several new exploration targets on the property. New discoveries have been made in the early part of the 2023 drilling program, with Carlin-type (gold) and CRD (polymetallic) mineralization intersected in several new target areas close to the underground infrastructure being planned for the property.

“The success we have realized early in our 2023 drill program continues to confirm the world-class potential of the Ruby Hill project,” said Tyler Hill, chief geologist of i-80. “We are advancing permitting to provide the ability to expand exploration to test the Hilltop Corridor further south toward the FAD deposit and for the ability to test two of our priority exploration targets defined by geophysical surveys.”

At the McCoy-Cove property, progress on the construction of the initial decline and exploration drift for the future development of the Cove underground mine is now more than 70% complete and underground drilling is underway. The underground definition drill campaign of approximately 131,000 feet will be completed over the next 18 months to upgrade resources in advance of a feasibility study.

Installation of piezometers for detailed water flow studies is also being completed for full mine permitting and long-term dewatering plans.

I-80 says Cove represents one of North America’s highest-grade development-stage gold projects.

An initial drill campaign was completed at the Buffalo Mountain Property in the second half of 2022. The results of this program, that include intercepts of 1 gram of gold per ton over 440 feet and 1.2 grams of gold over 134 feet, will be incorporated into a revised resource estimate and economic plan regarding a potential open pit operation with mineralization processed at Lone Tree. The Buffalo Mountain property is immediately west of Lone Tree.

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