Argo Blockchain bounces as it recoups cost of crypto mining machines faster than

PLC () shares bounced on Wednesday after it recouped the cost of its investment into new cryptocurrency mining hardware faster than expected.

The firm said on Wednesday that 1,000 Bitmain Z11 Antminer machines, which went into production in early May, had achieved 100% payback on their cost in under half the estimated time.

READ: Argo Blockchain surges as it inks deal to expand electricity supply by 357%

Based on current mining margins, Argo said it was also “well ahead of schedule” to recoup the cost of 2,267 S17 Antminer machines which had entered production in May and June.

Mike Edwards, executive chairman of Argo, said he was “confident” the firm’s expansion strategy would “continue to pay off long-term”.

The company also said it had granted one of its independent non-executive directors, Matthew Shaw, stock options over 1mln shares with an exercise price of 16p each.

Argo also extended the exercise period for 5.9mln shares at 16p for Jonathan Bixby, one of the company’s former directors, by three years from 30 August 2019.

In early trading, the shares were 3.7% higher at 10.1p.

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