i-80 GOLD CORP. has officially announced its operating and financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024. According to certain reports, during this period, the company successfully accessed first mineralized material at South Pacific Zone at the Granite Creek mine in June, 2024, 3,760 feet of horizontal and vertical advancement at the Granite Creek mine. Furthermore, it kicked off underground delineation drilling of the CSD Gap and Helen zones at the McCoy-Cove project (14,382 feet). The company also achieved Q2 2024 gold sales of 1,636 ounces at a realized gold price of $2, 3611 per ounce. Aside from that, it sold 9,361 tons of mineralized material for total revenues of $5.9 million. Next up, we ought to mention how i-80 seemingly completed 17,976 feet of exploration drilling at McCoy-Cove, while simultaneously finishing 6,938 feet of horizontal and vertical advancement at the Granite Creek mine. To along with that, i-80’s YTD gold sales clocked 4,122 ounces at a realized gold price of $2,1931 per ounce. Markedly enough, the company also sold 19,528 tons of mineralized material (5,183 tons of sulfide mineralized material) for total revenues of $9.1 million. Moving on, it realized a total of 40,447 feet (core and RC) drilled YTD with multiple positive results to expand mineralization further at the Ruby Hill mine, the Granite Creek mine and the McCoy-Cove project. The cost for exploration, evaluation, and pre-development was said to be around $5.1 million for the quarter and $7.8 million YTD. This expenditure, however, mainly reflects the exploration and pre-development work at McCoy-Cove, Granite Creek and Ruby Hill.
Talk about progress made by each of these projects, we begin from Granite Creek, where 33,469 wet tons of mineralized material were mined and transferred to the stockpile as of Q2 2024.
“Granite Creek achieved a milestone in the second quarter of accessing the first mineralized material out of the South Pacific Zone”, said Matt Gili, President and Chief Operating Officer of i-80 GOLD CORP. “Subsequent to the end of the period, initial test mining of the first level of the South Pacific Zone was completed in the uppermost part of the deposit. The grade reconciliation was consistent with the Company model with more tons of mineralized material mined than modeled, leading to a positive reconciliation on gold production from the first level.”
Turning our attention towards the McCoy-Cove project, the Cove deposit and the McCoy-Cove Property is expected to be the core asset in the Company’s “hub and spoke” business plan and likely the highest-grade gold deposit in i-80’s portfolio. The main objective here is to complete the ongoing underground drill program in advance of the completion of a Feasibility Study. Anyway, getting into McCoy-Cove’ progress for the quarter, the project achieved high grade infill drilling results at the Helen and Gap zones. Furthermore, alongside finishing 14,382 feet of drilling completed for the three months ended June 30, 2024, the project also got to see baseline studies, including the ones focused on vegetation, migration birds, geochemical, and hydrological, continue to move forward. Beyond, it has initiated preliminary work on the baseline air quality impact analysis report, global climate change technical memo, and baseline geochemical characterization report. As for the initial hydrology model, it has been duly completed, with the company now optimizing the design of the de-watering infrastructure based on this model.
Rounding up highlights is the Ruby Hill project, which witnessed advanced metallurgical testing on gold, base metal, and polymetallic deposits including the Hilltop and FAD zones. Furthermore, it advanced permitting for water pollution control permit and social-economical baseline report. Another detail worth a mention here is how residual leaching activities at Ruby Hill produced and sold 510 ounces of gold during the quarter and 954 ounces of gold YTD at a realized gold price of $2,331 and $2,183 per ounce, respectively.
