History
A SPAC-listed Nevada gold miner slid into a 2022 cash crisis and halted mining, then raised about $205 million in 2025 to clear nearly all its debt.
2018-2020: A blank-cheque route to a gold mine
The story began with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation, a blank-cheque company (a shell listed to buy a business later). Its securities were cleared for listing in February 2018. In January 2020 it agreed to buy Hycroft Mining Corporation, successor to the bankrupt Allied Nevada Gold and operator of the Hycroft gold and silver heap-leach mine in Nevada. The first announced deal was worth roughly $325 million. It restructured Hycroft's debt, with some notes swapped for stock and some for cash, and brought in $65 million of new equity from Mudrick, Whitebox, Highbridge, Aristeia and Wolverine.
The February 2020 registration showed how little the SPAC's own public holders would keep: about 1.9% of the company, against about 9.5% for the sponsor. The rest went to Hycroft's creditor-owners and the financing. Shareholders were sent proxy materials in May, which promoted 18 million ounces of gold-equivalent reserves and a 34-year mine life.
The deal closed at the end of May 2020, with the company renamed Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation (Nasdaq: HYMC). It valued Hycroft at about $615 million and brought in $76 million from a private placement. The company drew $70 million of a new $110 million Sprott credit facility and took a $30 million upfront payment from Sprott in return for a 1.5% royalty on the mine. In October 2020 it raised roughly $75 million selling units of stock and warrants at $9.00, its first raise as a public mining company. Shares on issue stood at about 59.9 million by the end of 2020.
2021-2022: Cash runs short
In May 2021 Hycroft restated its 2020 accounts after new SEC guidance required SPAC-style warrants to be booked as liabilities. This was an accounting fix tied to the merger structure, not a problem at the mine.
The real trouble was cash. At the end of December 2021 Nasdaq warned that the stock had traded below the $1.00 minimum bid price for 30 straight days. In January 2022 Sprott relaxed minimum-cash rules through May, in return for locking in CEO Diane Garrett and CFO Stanton Rideout as required personnel until the loan was repaid. By March 2022 Hycroft disclosed that it had stopped mining altogether and was talking to lenders about restructuring. It set up a $500 million at-the-market program with B. Riley Securities, which lets a company sell shares gradually.
Shares on issue fell from about 60.4 million at the end of 2021 to about 20.0 million at the end of 2022. The beats do not explain the fall, though the company had been seeking a reverse stock split. A second Nasdaq price notice came in October 2022. In December 2022 Hycroft bought back $11.1 million of its subordinated notes from Highbridge for $5.6 million in cash plus 500,000 shares, and made a small voluntary paydown on the Sprott loan.
2023-2024: A listing under threat
The record for these years is thin. In October 2023 Nasdaq moved to delist the stock after it failed to regain $1.00 through two full compliance periods. Hycroft said it would appeal to a Nasdaq hearings panel. Shares on issue crept up from about 20.7 million at the end of 2023 to about 24.9 million at the end of 2024. The beats give no detail on how the appeal ended or what drove the increase.
2025: Fresh money and a clean balance sheet
The stock recovered in 2025. In June, Hycroft raised about $40.7 million selling units of stock and warrants at $3.50. On September 3 it agreed to a $60 million private placement of units at $4.28, with warrants struck at $6.00, which closed on September 11. In mid-October it raised roughly $165 million selling stock at $6.50, to expand exploration and drilling at the mine and to retire its debt at a discount.
The debt went the next day. Hycroft bought back $120.8 million of subordinated notes, held by Mudrick, Whitebox, Highbridge and Aristeia among others, for $110.4 million in cash, a 9% discount. It also paid off the last $15.1 million owed to Sprott. That cleared $125.5 million of obligations. Shares on issue rose from about 24.9 million at the end of 2024 to about 83.0 million at the end of 2025, in line with these raisings.
As of October 16, 2025, Hycroft had essentially no debt. Only Sprott's 1.5% royalty on the mine remained in place.
Written from the 28 story beats below (2018 to 16 Oct 2025), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.