i-80 Gold Corp. announced its plan to acquire all shares of Paycore Minerals Inc., which owns the FAD Property that sits immediately south of, and adjoining, i-80’s Ruby Hill Property in Eureka County, Nevada. The transaction will consolidate the northern portion of the Eureka District and is expected to strengthen i-80’s dominant presence in the district by increasing the size of the land package at Ruby Hill by more than 34% to approximately 14,272 acres, providing i-80 enhanced exposure to one of the world’s premier emerging carbonate replacement deposit (CRD) districts.
Paycore shareholders will receive 0.68 of an i-80 common share for each share held, representing a 36% premium for Paycore shareholders.
The transaction received unanimous i-80 board approval and support from Paycore’s largest shareholder, Waterton Nevada Splitter, LLC and Waterton Nevada Splitter II, LLC, which holds approximately 25% of the outstanding shares of Paycore
“The geological setting being defined in the Eureka District is truly the most unique I have witnessed in my career,” said i-80 CEO Ewan Downie. “In the immediate area surrounding the Archimedes pit, we have identified oxide gold, Carlin-type refractory gold, base metal skarn and polymetallic carbonate replacement mineralization. Older mineralizing events are often overprinted by Carlin-type mineralization resulting in precious metal-rich deposits not found elsewhere in the Great Basin. We have intersected high-grade mineralization in every one of our targets tested in 2022, all of which remain wide open for expansion. The expanded property has the potential to host a world-class polymetallic deposit with enhanced potential for further discoveries.”
“The consolidation of the core part of the Ruby Hill district will allow i-80 to aggressively pursue the optimization of the company’s multi-year development plan – to create one of the largest U.S.-focused diversified mineral producers,” said Matthew Gollat, executive vice-president for i-80. “Step-out drilling results from Paycore’s 2022 drill program confirm the upside potential of what we believe to be one of Nevada’s highest-grade undeveloped deposits that will benefit from the Ruby Hill processing infrastructure.”
Prior to the discovery of Carlin-type mineralization by Homestake at Ruby Hill in the 1990’s, the Eureka District enjoyed a successful 100-year history of production (1864-1966) that resulted in some of the highest-grade historic CRD mines in the world. The Ruby Hill district reported estimated historical production of 1.65 million oz of gold at an average grade of 0.83 oz/ton (28.5 g/ton gold) and 39 million oz of silver at an average grade of 19.5 oz/ton (668.6 g/t silver) from 2 million tons mined of which 80% is estimated to be from the original Ruby Hill mine on the FAD Property.
