The Canadian company Bitfarms Ltd is advancing its plans to build a gigantic bitcoin (BTC) mining center in Argentina, a project it has been working on since October last year. The facility, whose exact location was not specified, will operate 55,000 mining machines and is shaping up to be one of the firm’s largest farms.

Bitfarms reported that, to achieve its goal, it has signed an eight-year power agreement with a local private company that, for the first four years, will secure 210 megawatts of electricity at a price of 0.02 kilowatt hours.

The company estimates that 210 megawatts of electricity will be enough to produce about 11,774 bitcoins , equivalent to about USD 650 million at the current price of the cryptocurrency (USD 55,000), as noted in an official statement .

The one in Argentina will be the facility with the highest energy supply of the five that the company has. Its Quebec warehouses, Cowansville, Magog, Farnham, St. Hyacinthe and Sherbrooke, consume about 69 megawatts of electricity and in 2019, between them, they had less than 20,000 Bitcoin mining equipment.

Cheap energy from Argentina would allow Bitfarm to mine the cryptocurrency at a lower cost than those generated at its Canadian facilities. In Québec, for example, during the fourth quarter of 2020, the average cost of mining a full coin was USD 7,500, but the firm believes that, in Argentine territory, it will be able to do so for USD 4,125, with a significant savings of 45% .

Argentina, a favorable country for Bitcoin miners
Bitfarms also plans to move a considerable number of its older miners to the new data center in Argentina. In this regard, he added that, although this equipment is less efficient than the latest generation, “the low cost of electricity and the proven reliability of these miners will prolong their economic life.”

The company’s plan is for the Argentine mining center to begin operations in early 2022 and become a significant contributor to the macro objective of reaching 8.0 exahash / second by the end of that year.

He adds that the favorable climate of the Latin American country will be a great ally throughout the year because it does not require the installation of expensive liquid immersion cooling to keep mining equipment operating optimally.

Based on the climatic conditions mentioned by the company in its statement, it could be assumed that Bitfarm will locate its mining center in the Patagonian region , in the south of the country, the only area of ​​Argentina with a cold and constant climate throughout the year. In fact, for three years the province of Tierra del Fuego has been mentioned as a potential territory for Bitcoin mining.

The construction of the building will begin soon as the company highlighted that it is in advanced conversations with an engineering services firm that will be responsible for directing the execution of the work.

In the last year Bitfarm has made a significant expansion effort with the purchase of new equipment. In March, according to what was reported by CriptoNoticias in March, the firm ordered 48,000 units of miners that it will begin to receive in January 2022, of which a “substantial part” will be used in the new installation in Argentina, as noted in its most recent release.