Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain sold one of its sites to repay debt amid its declining BTC production last month.
Argo sells site to repay debt
In a Mar. 5 statement, the miner explained that it sold its Mirabel Facility in Quebec for $6.1 million.
Following the sale, Argo allocated $4 million to settle debts owed to Galaxy Digital, effectively reducing its debt to approximately $14 million as of Feb. 29. This marks a significant 60% decrease from the initial Galaxy debt of $35 million.
Argo clarified that the remainder of the proceeds from the sale were utilized to settle the outstanding mortgage of the Mirabel Facility. Additionally, the company plans to relocate miners from the Mirabel site to its Baie Comeau facility in Quebec.
The Mirabel facility, boasting a power capacity of five megawatts (MW), will see its miners shifted to the Baie Comeau site, while older miners, representing 140 PH/s, will be liquidated.
Thomas Chippas, Argo CEO, said:
“We are able to exit the Mirabel Facility with a high multiple on its power capacity, and we also realize a premium on this real estate asset while maintaining a strong hashrate capacity of 2.7 EH/s.”
In 2021, Argo borrowed to expand its mining endeavors without selling its BTC holdings. However, due to the market downturn in 2022, Argo sold its Texas Helios mining site to Galaxy Digital for $65 million and secured a new $35 million from Galaxy to clear other outstanding loans.
BTC production declines
The miner revealed that its BTC production fell 21% in February to 92 BTC or 3.2 BTC per day due to a maintenance-related outage at the third-party-owned Cottonwood substation.
Besides that, Argo also explained that its production was negatively impacted by the BTC network’s rising mining difficulty. Last month, CryptoSlate reported that BTC’s mining difficulty hit a record high of more than 81 trillion.
As a result of these issues, the firm’s mining revenue for the month decreased by 15% month-on-month to $4.5 million. Argo holds around 14 BTC as of Feb. 29.