i-80, which was spun out of Premier Gold Mines earlier this year as part of the Equinox Gold takeover, had completed its acquisition of Granite Creek in the June quarter. 

The project's underground deposit contains a measured and indicated 562,000 tonnes at 10.49g/t gold for 190,000oz and an inferred 1.5 million tonnes at 11.9g/t for 581,000oz.

It's near Nevada Gold Mine's Twin Creeks and Turquoise Ridge mines and i-80 said the refractory material was set to be trucked to Twin Creeks for processing, under an interim processing arrangement which was part of an assets swap with NGM announced this week. 

The company acquired processing infrastructure at Lone Star through the deal with NGM, the Barrick Gold-Newmont joint venture, with i-80 CEO Ewan Downie telling Mining Journal this week the transformational deal allowed interim processing at NGM until i-80 got Lone Star up and running.

"As a partner of NGM for several years at South Arturo, which will be transferred to NGM as part of the broader transaction, we have built a strong working relationship and we look forward to continuing to build on this relationship as we realise our plan to develop multiple projects in the state of Nevada," i-80 president and COO Matt Gili said yesterday.

The company planned to advance underground drilling and test mining with a target to make a production decision.

A preliminary economic assessment on Granite Creek is due "in the near future".

The company had US$70.1 million cash at June 30 and is set to gain $50 million through a private placement to NGM and is teeing up to $240 million for acquisition and development financing from Orion Mine Finance.

Its shares (TSX: IAU) peaked at C$3.54 earlier this week on the NGM deal and closed yesterday at $3.18, valuing it at $606.6 million (US$478 million).