13 Jan, 2022

Iamgold to evaluate options for Rosebel gold mine in Suriname

Iamgold Corp. launched a strategic review process to evaluate options for its Rosebel gold mine in Suriname as the company focuses on bringing the Cote gold project in Ontario into commercial production in the second half of 2023.

Iamgold said Jan. 12 that the new life of mine plan for Rosebel requires material capital investment in 2022 and 2023 to address issues that have resulted in strategic pit pushbacks as well as delays in stripping, maintenance and completion of required infrastructure at the Saramacca satellite mine. The company estimated a total of $1.24 billion of capital expenditures for the remaining 12-year mine life.

Iamgold will continue looking into potential alternatives for the Westwood gold mine in Quebec while ramping up gold production to 90,000 to 100,000 ounces per year.

The company said the strategic review is part of its strategy to "prioritize the highest-return assets within the portfolio to achieve the strongest net free cash flow and value creation for shareholders."

"The key objective of this review is to deliver an appropriate allocation of capital and resources between the company's existing mines and its Cote gold project to generate the best return on invested capital while advancing Cote to production," said Iamgold, which expects to spend $590 million to $620 million on the Cote project in 2022.

Iamgold posted total attributable gold production of 153,000 ounces in the fourth quarter of 2021, down from 169,000 ounces a year ago. Full-year 2021 production declined to 601,000 ounces from 653,000 ounces.

Attributable gold production at Rosebel fell to 42,000 ounces in the fourth quarter of 2021, from 52,000 ounces in the previous year, while full-year 2021 attributable gold output sank to 154,000 ounces from 210,000 ounces.

Iamgold produced 13,000 ounces of attributable gold at Westwood in the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2021, down year over year from 14,000 ounces. Full-year 2021 output dropped to 35,000 ounces from 79,000 ounces.