i-80 Gold Corp. has released the results of an engineering study for the refurbishment of its Lone Tree Plant in northern Nevada, USA. The study, conducted by Hatch Ltd., highlights several significant changes and improvements to the plant's operations.
The refurbishment will increase the Lone Tree Plant's nameplate capacity to 2,268 tonnes per day or 827,806 tonnes per annum. The scope of work includes the replacement and refurbishment of existing infrastructure, installation of new infrastructure, equipment, and environmental systems, with a capital cost estimate 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 potential short payback period is estimated to be 12 to 24 months depending on the grade processed and gold price. Transitioning from toll-milling to owner-operated processing is expected to reduce current processing costs to approximately one third, resulting in an estimated margin increase of approximately $1,000 to $1,500 per ounce of gold.
The plant is expected to commence construction activities in the second half of 2026, with plant commissioning anticipated at the end of 2027. The refurbishment incorporates standard, technically straightforward upgrades designed to improve operating efficiency. The project is estimated to require approximately 600,000 direct construction hours, with a peak workforce of about 400 construction personnel.
The Lone Tree Plant is designed to process refractory material using the integrated pox-cil processing stream, along with high-grade oxide material, with flexibility to optimize treatment of mineralized material with the lowest cost and highest recovery rate. The updated design incorporates an acid-based pox process, expected to improve overall gold recovery rates compared to the alkaline process.
The estimate for the refurbishment has been developed to an AACE Class 3 level of definition and is modestly higher than anticipated due to increased costs associated with inflation, engineering design details, and additional redundancy by expanding the capacity of the filtered tailings system.
The company is on track to complete the engineering designs associated with the construction and environmental permits in the fourth quarter of 2025, with permitting applications projected to be submitted in the first quarter of 2026 following the internal review process.
The Lone Tree Plant is expected to begin processing refractory material from the company’s Granite Creek and Archimedes underground mines in the fourth quarter of 2027. The property includes significant existing infrastructure and was initially commissioned in 1991 by Santa Fe Pacific Gold. It became part of i-80 Gold in October 2021.
The company aims to complete its recapitalization plan by the end of the second quarter of 2026 or earlier, and a conference call and webcast will be held on December 19, 2025, to discuss the updates for the Lone Tree refurbishment and the company’s recapitalization plan. As a result of these announcements, the company's shares have moved 2.69% on the market, and are now trading at a price of $1.53. For the full picture, make sure to review i-80 Gold's 8-K report.
