Argo Blockchain yielded 219 Bitcoins in July, making for a 22% month-on-month (MoM) increase, the dual-listed crypto mining company’s latest operational update shows.
Mining revenues for the month came to £3.89mln (US$4.73mln) but despite this being a 15% MoM increase, margins did fall from 50% to 37%.
Argo attributed the narrower margins to skyrocketing global energy prices, explaining: “During the month of July, Argo's electricity costs at its Helios facility in Texas continued to be higher than previously anticipated.
“Electricity costs have increased around the world, largely due to higher natural gas prices stemming from the war in Ukraine, as well as increased demand for electric-powered air conditioning during an unusually hot and dry summer.”
In tandem with its competitors, Argo’s Helios facility in Texas voluntarily went offline as an energy crisis gripped the state in the middle of July, reducing energy usage by over 1,000 MW.
The company stated: “In extraordinary circumstances like that, Argo believes that electricity should be prioritised for uses that ensure the health and safety of the public and is proud to be able to reduce its operations in order to contribute to grid stability.”
Debt obligations slashed
Also in tandem with its competitor, Argo sold a large portion of its Bitcoin reserves in July.
During the month, the company sold 887 Bitcoins at an average price of approximately US$22,670, with proceeds going towards reducing outstanding debt obligations to Galaxy Digital (TSX-V:GLXY).
As of July 31, debt obligations had been slashed to US$6.72mln from US$50mln in the second quarter.
Argo goes in-house
Despite unavoidable macro concerns, Argo is making steps to increase internal operating efficiency.
In July, the company completed its swap of 10,000 S19 mining rigs out of third-party facilities hosted by Core Scientific to its own self-hosted data centres.
Argo expects to generate enhanced performance following the swap, with greater control of operations positively impacting operational costs.
Total hashrate – the amount of processing power dedicated to mining operations – at the end of July was 2.23EH/s, comprising approximately 1.1% of Bitcoin’s global hashrate.
ARB shares were up 2.7% on the week as of Friday morning.