Bitcoin Miner CleanSpark Acquires Mawson’s Georgia Mining Facility, Rigs for Up to $42.5M

CleanSpark, a Las Vegas-based cryptocurrency mining company, is purchasing a facility in Georgia from its rival crypto miner Mawson Infrastructure Group.

CleanSpark said on Friday that it will pay up to $33 million for the facility, with additional $9.5 million for 6,468 ASIC miners owned by Mawson at the facility.

CleanSpark stated that the purchased Georgia facility will add 0.558 exahashes per second (EH/s) to its current hashrate of 3.8 EH/s. The miner further said the site can expand an extra 150 megawatts, which would enable it to power 70,000 latest generation miners, producing over 7 EH/s.

CleanSpark disclosed that it agreed to provide Mawson with up to 30 megawatts of temporary hosting capacity for up to 180 days, while it (Mawson) transfers its miners to the Pennsylvania location.

Mawson Infrastructure Group has multiple mining operations throughout the USA and Australia. Its Beaver County facility is a 100 MW cryptocurrency mining operation located in Midland, Pennsylvania, US.

CleanSpark said the deal in terms of $26.5 million of cash consideration, 3 million in seller financing in the form of promissory notes, $11 million in CleanSpark stock ($4.5 million of which is subject to reaching certain earn-out commitments), and $2 million in a seller-financed earn-out payable at least 60 days after closing upon certain conditions being met.

Zachary Bradford, CleanSpark CEO, talked about the development: "The site is nothing but impressive. We are enthusiastic about Georgia and believe that our expansion there will continue to build value for our shareholders and the communities we operate in throughout Georgia.”

James Manning, Mawson CEO, also commented: “We now intend to focus our attention on the continued development of our Pennsylvania and Texas facilities where we see the opportunity for compelling returns on capital."

Miners Trying to Overcome Crypto Crash

This is the second acquisition made by CleanSpark in a month.

The firm has continued taking advantage of opportunities that emerge during the market downturn.

Early last month, CleanSpark spent $25.1 million for a mining facility and Bitcoin mining rigs in Georgia.

The company acquired a 36 megawatt (MW) active facility in Georgia from Bitcoin mining company Waha Technologies for $16.2 million, and 3,400 miners in operation at the site for $8.9 million.

CleanSpark also has taken advantage of the declining prices of ASICs, purchasing 6,200 machines between June and August, and an additional 10,000 Antminer S19j Pro units this week.

The mining industry has been consolidating and is expected to continue doing so amid a bear market that is squeezing margins and rendering miners struggling. Some of the miners struggle to run businesses due to large debt obligations.

Consolidation enables the miners to bring their resources together and build greater capacities and efficiencies.