From Capital to Construction: i-80 Gold's Next Phase

• i-80 Gold completed its recapitalisation ahead of schedule, securing more than $1 billion in capital raised and available for use, and retiring approximately $165 million of legacy debt.
• The company approved construction of the Lone Tree Plant refurbishment, targeting the first gold pour in December 2027 and ramp-up to production in the first quarter of 2028.
• Lone Tree is expected to improve refractory ore recoveries from approximately 55% to 60% under toll milling arrangements to about 92% through owner-operated processing.
• i-80 Gold is executing the largest drill program in its history, with significant budgets allocated to Granite Creek, Archimedes, Mineral Point, and portfolio-wide resource expansion and infill drilling.
• Mineral Point and Granite Creek open pits are central to the company's long-term goal of achieving an average annual gold production of 600,000 ounces by the early 2030s.

From Balance Sheet Repair to Execution

After a year spent rebuilding its balance sheet, i-80 Gold Corp (NYSE American: IAUX) (TSX: IAU) has shifted its focus to the construction, drilling, and permitting work intended to underpin its Nevada growth plan. The clearest expression of that shift is the Lone Tree Plant, where a transition from third-party toll milling to owner-operated processing targets an increase in recoveries on refractory material from a payability factor of 55% to 60% to approximately 92%. That shift was made possible by the completion of the company's recapitalisation plan in the first quarter of 2026, which secured more than $1 billion in raised and available capital ahead of the company's mid-2026 target, according to the company's first-quarter 2026 results.

Committing to the Lone Tree Build

The board approved a positive construction decision on the refurbishment in the first quarter of 2026, and the company issued Hatch Engineering a full notice to proceed, building on a limited notice issued in August 2025. The $430 million capital estimate, issued in the company's November 2025 control estimate, is supported by an AACE Class 3 level engineering study with approximately 14,000 cost line items. As of March 31, 2026, total construction commitments stood at $30.5 million, according to the company's first-quarter 2026 results, with roughly 50% of project capital targeted for commitment by mid-2026. The project remains on plan for a first gold pour target in December 2027, with a ramp-up to production targeted for the first quarter of 2028. As with any plant refurbishment of this scale, construction cost overruns and schedule delays remain key variables the company will need to manage through to commissioning.

Chief Operating Officer of i-80 Gold, Paul Chawrun, detailed the execution timeline and the potential for further acceleration:

"We're actually moving the execution plan ahead from what we had indicated before, so we're comfortable with putting this together, and we're still looking at the first pour by the end of December 2027. With a ramp-up and commissioning, well, it'll be wet commissioning ahead of that, but a ramp-up to production in the first quarter of 2028, and we're looking at opportunities to accelerate that."

The Funding Overhang Lifts

With the recapitalisation plan complete, i-80 Gold has removed the funding uncertainty that previously weighed on its risk profile. Over the past 12 months, the company layered together a sequence of financings that closed ahead of schedule: an approximately $184 million equity raise completed in May 2025, with up to an additional $130 million available through warrant exercises, a $250 million net smelter return (NSR) royalty with Franco-Nevada closed March 16, 2026, $287.5 million in 3.75% convertible senior notes due 2031 issued March 23, 2026, and a $250 million gold prepayment facility with National Bank of Canada and Macquarie Bank Limited entered March 16, 2026. The combined package retired approximately $165 million of legacy debt, formally closing the recapitalisation effort.

The company now holds a cash balance of approximately $514 million as of March 31, 2026, as reported in the company's first-quarter 2026 financial statements, and management considers Phase 1 and Phase 2 of its three-phase development plan, covering three underground projects, one open-pit project, and the Lone Tree refurbishment, to be fully funded from secured and committed capital. 

Chawrun commented on the shift in posture this closing has allowed:

"It's a relief, it's exciting. What I feel really proud of is that we have first-rate institutions that have been able to provide us with the confidence to put this together. We went through comprehensive due diligence, we had a competitive process as well, there were a lot of interested parties to be part of this story, and now we're all about execution."

Deploying the Largest Drill Program in Company History

The drilling program is designed to upgrade inferred resources ahead of upcoming feasibility studies (FS) and to test for new resource definition across the portfolio. According to the company's 2026 guidance, resource expansion and infill drilling budgets are set at $10 million for Granite Creek underground, $25 million to $30 million for Archimedes underground, and $45 million to $50 million for Mineral Point open pit, with a further $20 million to $30 million budgeted for permitting and technical work. The company completed approximately 7,000 metres of drilling in the first quarter alone, according to its first-quarter 2026 results, in what it has described as the largest 12-month drill program in its history by both planned footage and budget.

The program spans infill drilling to upgrade inferred resources to measured and indicated categories ahead of the pending FS at Granite Creek, Archimedes, and Cove, alongside step-out drilling targeting new resource definition. At Mineral Point, two surface core rigs completed 750 metres in the first quarter to support hydrogeology, metallurgy and mine plan work ahead of a pre-feasibility study (PFS) targeted for 2027.

Chawrun described the breadth of the capital deployment across the company's properties:

"And then, as well, exploring targets to define new resources, and so that's happening at Granite, that's happening at Ruby, and as well at Mineral Point. So it's a combo of, when you have an $80 million program, you're doing pretty much the full spectrum."

Optimising the Open Pit Future

While Lone Tree underpins the company's near-term production buildout, Mineral Point represents the longer-term growth component of its three-phase development strategy, alongside the Granite Creek open pit. Together, the two projects represent the company's path toward its targeted 600,000 ounces of average annual gold output by the early 2030s. Mineral Point alone hosts an indicated mineral resource of 3.4 million ounces of gold at .48 grams per tonne and 104.3 million ounces of silver at 15 grams per tonne, plus 2.1 million ounces of inferred gold and 91.5 million ounces of inferred silver, as at December 31, 2024, per the project's preliminary economic assessment (PEA) filed March 31, 2025. That same PEA reports an after-tax net present value (NPV) of $614 million and a 12% internal rate of return (IRR) based on a $ 2,175-per-ounce gold price assumption, rising to $2.3 billion and 29% at spot prices of $3,000 per ounce for gold and $35.00 per ounce for silver.

Of the $250 million Franco-Nevada royalty closed March 16, 2026, $50 million is earmarked to advance infill drilling, engineering and early-stage permitting at Mineral Point in 2026, ahead of a PFS targeted for 2027, with timing under review. Granite Creek open pit, by comparison, is advancing through technical trade-off studies with its FS timeline under review, alongside early-stage pre-permitting work for an anticipated Environmental Impact Statement process. For both projects, permitting outcomes and study results remain key variables for the development timeline.

Chawrun was direct about the upside still being defined in these economics:

"We'll look at optimising those numbers, and when I say optimised, potentially could be bigger, but I want to be careful with that. At very good margins, something like $1,500 per ounce, and then if you take the difference, it's very lucrative."

With the recapitalisation complete, i-80 Gold's near-term catalysts now sit squarely on execution: FS at Cove and Granite Creek underground are targeted for the second quarter of 2026, Archimedes underground feasibility is targeted for late in the first quarter of 2027, and Lone Tree construction is targeted to begin in the second half of 2026 ahead of a December 2027 first gold pour. These milestones, along with the company's broader production growth targets, remain dependent on successfully advancing each project through permitting and construction on schedule.

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