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i-80 Gold: From 50,000 to 600,000 Ounces | Fully Funded Nevada Growth Plan

Mining Network Jul 15, 2026

Summary

i-80 Gold says a fully funded $1.1 billion recapitalization carries Nevada output from roughly 50,000 to more than 600,000 ounces.

AISC (All-In Sustaining Cost — what it really costs to produce an ounce) is guided below $2,000 an ounce once Lone Tree restarts.

Young argues brownfield projects — existing facilities refurbished instead of built — carry far less execution risk than greenfield builds.

Pulling the Mineral Point open-pit heap leach (ore piled on pads and sprayed) forward could lift output to about 500,000 ounces by 2030.

Management expects operating cash flow to jump from about $15 million to over $400 million at current gold prices.

Key points on Barrick Mining

  • Young says he previously worked at Barrick and that Barrick owned Granite Creek, then called Pinson.
  • He argues Barrick lacked the bandwidth to pursue marginal assets, so drill programs at Granite Creek and Ruby Hill were, in his words, fantastic but never followed up, and he plans to target those results in 2027 and 2028.

Key points on Newmont

  • Newmont appears only as a historical reference: Young says Hatch Engineering built the Lone Tree process facility for Santa Fe, which became Newmont in 1992, and that Hatch is now carrying out the refurbishment.

Key points on i-80 Gold Corp

  • As of the July 2026 interview, the company says it is fully funded for a three-phase Nevada plan that would take output from about 50,000 ounces this year to more than 600,000 ounces once Phase 3 is built, the scale of a mid-tier producer.
  • Management returned to the hub-and-spoke gold strategy used at the 2021 IPO after inheriting $200 million of debt due within 24 months with no repayment path; the pivot was announced in fall 2024 and the balance sheet recap was completed in the first quarter of 2026.
  • Phase 1 (Granite Creek Underground, Archimedes Underground and a $400 million-plus Lone Tree plant refurbishment) is reported on schedule and on budget, targeting about 200,000 ounces by the beginning of 2028, with AISC falling from $3,000-$4,000 per ounce today to under $2,000 and operating cash flow rising from roughly $15 million to over $400 million at current gold prices.
  • Young says the company may swap Phases 2 and 3 if Mineral Point permitting is accelerated, which he puts at roughly 500,000 ounces by 2030; Mineral Point is a roughly $1 billion capex open-pit heap leach producing about 300,000 ounces a year over a 17-year life, with first gold seen as early as 2030.
  • Site work started on schedule in the second quarter of 2026, with CIL tank and oxygen plant demolition running through the third quarter and new construction starting in the fourth; commissioning is targeted as early as the third quarter of 2027 and first gold in the fourth quarter of 2027, alongside an $85 million 2026 drill program supporting feasibility studies.

Key points on Franco-Nevada Corp

  • Franco-Nevada provided roughly $250 million in royalty capital, which Young calls the foundational funding behind the Mineral Point project, including $50 million allocated in 2026 for infill and step-out drilling, engineering and initial permitting.
  • Young reads the arrangement as a vote of confidence in the asset, noting the partner believes in the project as much as his own team does.
  • He says the royalty sits inside AISC and, depending on silver prices, could still leave Mineral Point cash costs between about $1,000 and $1,400 per ounce versus roughly $2,000 for the underground operations.

Richard Young's takeaways

  • Top takeaway His central argument is that the plan is brownfield rather than greenfield: the Lone Tree facility already exists and only worn parts and technology are being replaced, so he puts execution risk well below a normal new build, and he adds the team is fully staffed.
  • He says the recap was deliberately over-raised despite shareholder pushback, so the company can build Mineral Point ahead of the Cove and Granite Creek open-pit phase with no further equity; a small revolver may still be needed depending on gold prices, and the senior debt banks were picked partly for their ability to transition into a corporate line of credit.
  • He expects a pro-business administration to accelerate Mineral Point permitting by as much as a year, calls it the most valuable project in the portfolio at a stated net asset value of $6-$7 billion against a market cap under $2 billion, and says a decision on swapping the phases is likely in the second half of 2026.
  • He argues Mineral Point lowers the cost base as well as adding ounces, pointing to a roughly $1 billion capex, about $1,000-$1,400 per ounce cash costs inclusive of the royalty and silver prices, and a first year of stripping that removes about 90 million tons of waste against 10 million tons of ore.
  • From his prior work at Barrick on Granite Creek, he argues previous owners never had bandwidth for marginal assets, supporting his plan to shift from feasibility work in 2026 to exploration at Granite Creek, near the 30 million ounce Turquoise Ridge system, and at Ruby Hill in 2027 and 2028, while deferring a third underground mine until the late 2030s.