Plant and Equipment, Net

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Plant and Equipment, Net

Plant and Equipment, Net

The following table provides the components of Plant and equipment, net (dollars in thousands):

		Year Ended December 31,
	Depreciation Life or Method	2022		2021
Production leach pads	Units-of-production	$	11,190	$	11,190
Test leach pads	18 months	6,241		6,241
Process equipment	5 - 15 years	17,302		17,735
Buildings and leasehold improvements	10 years	9,280		9,280
Mine equipment	5 - 7 years	4,872		6,224
Vehicles	3 - 5 years	1,578		1,454
Furniture and office equipment	7 years	370		330
Construction in progress and other		35,721		35,794
		$	86,554	$	88,248
Less, accumulated depreciation and amortization		(31,722)		(29,764)
Total		$	54,832	$	58,484

Depreciation expense related to Plant and equipment, net was $3.4 million and $8.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively.

Leach pads

The Company has historically recorded depreciation on its production leach pads by dividing the monthly ounce production by the estimated mineral reserves included in its technical reports. As the Company ceased mining activities in November 2021 and no longer reports mineral reserves for the Hycroft Mine, the Company estimated the remaining leach pad life based on available capacity in tons. As a result of this change in estimate, the Company recorded additional depreciation expense of $1.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021.

The Company has historically recorded depreciation on its test leach pads over the test pads estimated remaining useful life. An estimated useful life of 18 months was based upon the expectation of when the tests would be completed. During the year ended December 31, 2022 the Company’s test leach pads were fully depreciated.

Construction in progress and other

The primary project included in construction in progress at December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 was construction of a new larger leach pad, which continued through February 2021 at which time construction was suspended, resulting in construction costs for the new larger leach pad of $34.1 million since commencing construction in 2020.