On January 11, Argo released its first operational update since the sale of its major Helios mining facility to Galaxy Digital from Mike Novogratz. The company said it mined 147 bitcoins or equivalent BTC in December, compared to 198 BTC in November 2022.
As of December 31, Argo held 141 bitcoins, and mining revenue for the month of December was $2.49 million, the company said. Argo’s total debt was about $79 million and its bank balance was about $20 million.
According to the announcement, the decrease in the amount of BTC mined is mainly due to Argo scaling down mining operations in Helios in response to a major winter storm in Texas.
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In late December, the US Department of Energy declared an energy emergency in Texas, citing electricity shortages due to the impact of severe winter weather. Amidst a sharp drop in temperature combined with high winds, demand on the Texas power grid reached a winter peak of over 74,000 megawatts.
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Argo CEO Peter Wall noted that the company’s mining results were lower than expected because the company had to reduce energy use on the network due to severe weather conditions.
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During the winter storm, Argo joined other Texas Bitcoin miners in reducing power use by about 1,500 megawatts, Wall said, adding:
“After the winter storm and associated freezing temperatures subsided, we safely restarted Helios and resumed operations.”
Wall reported that Argo eventually decided to sell its Helios facility to Galaxy Digital, announcing a $65 million deal on December 28th. The transaction aims to reduce Argo’s total debt by $41 million and improve its liquidity and operating structure.
Despite the sale, Argo will continue mining at Galaxy’s owned Helios facility. Argo’s total hashrate capacity is still 2.5 exahashes per second, the announcement indicates.
