United Kingdom-based crypto mining company Argo Blockchain\u2019s plans to build an 800-megawatt data center in West Texas could cost anywhere from $1.5 billion to $2 billion.<\/p>\n
According to a Friday regulatory filing from Argo, the $2 billion cost estimate for the Helios mining facility built on a 320-acre land plot in Texas was based on \u201cthe type of mining machines to be installed in the facility, the mix of owned and hosted machines, the cost of raw materials, labor and power required to construct the facility, the timing of build-out and machine purchase, and other factors.\u201d However, the firm added that this was only an estimate and \u201cfuture results could differ materially.\u201d<\/p>\n
Argo broke ground on the 200 MW crypto mining facility based in Dickens County in July, reporting the site will give the company \u201caccess to up to 800 MW of electrical power\u201d for its future operations. Though the mining center doesn\u2019t have a roof yet, the plot of land alone will cost Argo $17.5 million. The company plans to have the facility up and running by mid-2022.<\/p>\n
Peter Wall, the CEO of Argo, has cited Texas\u2019 cheap renewable energy as well as its openness to innovation in new technologies as part of the reason for the construction of the data center. As of August, the company claimed that its crypto operations had become \u201cclimate positive\u201d for some classifications of greenhouse gas emissions, part of its plan to eventually become carbon neutral.<\/p>\n