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Adjusted net loss for i-80 Gold Corp. in the second quarter totaled $20.86 million, or a loss of 8 cents per share, and the Reno-based company reported gold sales of 4,329 ounces as it continues to explore and develop properties in Nevada.

The adjusted net loss compares with an adjusted net loss of $21.45 million, or a loss of 9 cents per share, in the second quarter of last year. The net loss without adjustments in the 2023 quarter was $15.96 million.

The gold was sold at an average realized price of $1,952 per ounce in the second quarter, compared with the average realized price of $1,811 per ounce in the 2022 quarter when 3,507 ounces were sold.

“Production came from residual leaching at Ruby Hill and Lone Tree and oxide material was put on the leach pad from Granite Creek,” said Chief Financial Officer Ryan Snow, who stated in the earnings call that it was “important to highlight that the company continues to invest in exploration, evaluation and development in 2023.”

He said i-80 Gold expects increased gold sales in the second half of the year.

Granite Creek is shipping refractory ore from its underground operations to the Twin Creeks processing facility operated by Nevada Gold Mines under an agreement reached when i-80 swapped its share of the Arturo Mine near Goldstrike north of Carlin to NGM for the Lone Tree property.

Processing of the refractory ore sent to Twin Creeks will begin once the contractual initial tonnage is delivered, according to i-80 Gold, which reported that mining to date at Granite Creek has encountered significantly more oxide mineralized material that expected. That meant fewer tons delivered to Twin Creeks, which is part of NGM’s Turquoise Ridge Complex near Granite Creek.

The company also said that starting in the second quarter Granite Creek began stockpiling oxide ore and is delivering that ore to a third party for processing under an ore sale agreement. During the second quarter, i-80 Gold sold 6,651 tons of oxide ore under the agreement for $2.8 million.

At Lone Tree along Interstate 80 in Humboldt County, i-80 Gold continued to advance an engineering study and cost estimate for restarting the autoclave processing facility there, with plans to process mineralized material from the Granite Creek, McCoy-Cove, and Ruby Hill underground mines.

Granite Creek’s underground mine is in operation, but McCoy-Cove’s underground project is still in the exploration stage, and the underground mine planned at Ruby Hill on the outskirts of the town of Eureka has yet to start. The company has permits to begin the portals at Ruby Hill, Matthew Gollatt, executive vice president of corporate and business development, reported.

Lone Tree also hosts residual leaching, and i-80 Gold reported Lone Tree produced and sold 2,700 ounces of gold from residual leaching during the second quarter at a realized gold price of $1,983 per ounce. For the first half of the year, it produced 3,363 ounces of gold.

The president and chief operating officer of i-80 Gold, Matthew Gili, said in the webcast that the company has two potential processing facilities. Lone Tree would process refractory gold, and “we are currently assessing retrofit plans to turn” the mill at Ruby Hill into a flotation plant for processing polymetallic ore being discovered at Ruby Hill.

He said Lone Tree will be the “hub of the hub and spoke business plan” for the company.

I-80 Gold expects McCoy-Cove to be the company’s highest grade gold deposit and to become the core asset in the hub and spoke business plan. Underground delineation drilling at McCoy-Cove continued in the second quarter.

The 13,350 feet of core drilled yielded extremely positive results, i-80 Gold said, reporting that one hole had 15.7 grams per ton over 22.5 meters (0.55 ounces per ton over 73.8 feet) and 18.9 grams per ton over 29.3 meters (0.55 opt over 96.13 feet).

Expenditures in the second quarter continued for the exploration ramp, hydrology studies, and engineering for dewatering and mining options, i-80 Gold reported.

At Ruby Hill, drilling in the second quarter focused on exploration and delineation of deposits. The company’s latest announcement was the discovery of a new high-grade gold and silver deposit called the Tyche Zone at an area called Graveyard flats.

The company’s chief executive officer, Ewan Downie, said in the discovery announcement that i-80 Gold has “now made seven new discoveries at Ruby Hill since we began testing new targets on the property in mid-2022.”

Ruby Hill’s residual leaching activities produced 1,629 ounces of gold in the second quarter. Mining of the Archimedes open pit at Ruby Hill ended in early 2022.

Snow summarized the second quarter in the company’s earnings report.

“In the second quarter, we continued to develop and completed ‘proof of concept’ mining on multiple zones at the Granite Creek mine, completed acquisition of Paycore Minerals to further consolidate the Eureka District, negotiated an Ore Sale and Purchase agreement for oxide mineralization, and recently completed an equity raise to bolster the company’s balance sheet.

“We continue to generate revenue from the Lone Tree and Ruby Hill residual leaching programs as we advance exploration and definition drilling at Granite Creek, McCoy-Cove, and Ruby Hill. With the additional capital raise, we will continue to advance i-80’s projects toward our ultimate goal of building a mid-tier Nevada-focused producer,” he said.

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