Refurbishing and commissioning the Lone Tree Plant marks a key milestone in i-80 Gold’s phase one growth plan
i-80 GOLD CORP. is pleased to announce the results of an engineering study for the refurbishment of its Lone Tree Plant located in Northern Nevada, USA. i-80 Gold is one of two gold companies in Nevada with an autoclave processing plant. As part of i-80 Gold’s development plan, the Lone Tree Plant is expected to serve as a central hub for processing refractory material from the Company’s three high-grade underground mines: Granite Creek, Archimedes, and Cove.
“The Lone Tree Plant is a cornerstone asset within phase one of i-80 Gold’s development plan,” stated Richard Young, President & Chief Executive Officer. “Refurbishing the Lone Tree Plant marks a major step forward in our goal of creating a mid-tier gold producer by enabling us to transition from toll-milling to an owner-operator processing model. This change is expected to significantly increase margins and free cash flow generation. In addition to advancing the development plan, we are progressing well on our recapitalization plan with ongoing engagement from debt and royalty providers, as well as preliminary interest in our non-core asset sale. We are encouraged by the overall progress and are on track to complete the recapitalization process before the end of the second quarter of 2026 or earlier.”
The Study was completed by Hatch Ltd. (“Hatch”), an industry leader in autoclave technology design, and builds on a previous internal engineering study completed by Hatch in 2023. Hatch’s responsibilities in this Study included the engineering of the refurbishment design and the capital costs; while i-80 Gold is responsible for completing the associated mine plan basis, metallurgical test work, recovery analysis, operating cost estimates (based on the Hatch design and detailed mass balance), and economic analysis.
Highlights
All amounts are expressed in United States dollars unless otherwise stated.
- Nameplate capacity of 2,268 tonnes per day or 827,806 tonnes per annum, consistent with historic production data, with integrated pressure oxidation (“POX”) and carbon-in-leach (“CIL”) circuits capable of processing both refractory (sulfide) and non-refractory (oxide) mineralized material.
- Scope of work includes the replacement and refurbishment of some existing infrastructure, and the installation of new infrastructure, equipment and environmental systems, including the refurbishment and upgrade of the existing autoclave to a modern POX circuit.
- Capital cost estimate (AACE Class 3) of $412 million, inclusive of contingency, owner’s costs, and first fills, plus $18 million in capital spares for a total of $430 million. The estimate is higher than the anticipated amount of approximately $400 million, largely due to increased costs associated with inflation and engineering design details, and additional redundancy by expanding the capacity of the filtered tailings system. This may allow for operational and throughput flexibility, both of which could ultimately increase throughput by allowing for processing of oxidized material during planned maintenance outages of the autoclave.
- Early works activities have commenced under a limited notice-to-proceed granted by the Board of i-80 Gold. A construction decision is expected once the recapitalization is complete. Upon the approval of associated permits, construction activities are anticipated to commence in the second half of 2026 with plant commissioning anticipated at the end of 2027.
“The engineering study confirms that the Lone Tree Plant refurbishment incorporates standard, technically straightforward upgrades designed to improve operating efficiency,” stated Paul Chawrun, Chief Operating Officer. “Importantly, the planned work represents low execution risk as demonstrated by the modest number of direct construction hours, the minimal requirement for long-lead equipment, and the Plant’s location within a mature, best-in-class mining district. With approximately 30% of detailed engineering now complete, this level of technical definition provides significantly improved accuracy in our capital cost estimate.” A video overview of the Lone Tree refurbishment plan is available
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