Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 21, 2021) - IAMGOLD Corporation (TSX: IMG) (NYSE: IAG) ("IAMGOLD" or the "Company") is pleased to announce assay results from its delineation diamond drilling program at the Gosselin Zone discovery, located approximately 1.5 kilometres northeast of the Côté Gold Project ("Côté", "Project"). The Gosselin delineation drilling program is being undertaken as part of the Côté Gold Joint Venture Project, a 70:30 joint venture between IAMGOLD and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. ("SMM"). Côté, located 125 km southwest of Timmins and 175 km north of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, is currently under construction with first gold production anticipated in the second half of 2023 (see news release dated July 21, 2020).
Since the fourth quarter of 2019, a total of thirty-three (33) diamond drill holes totaling 13,735 metres were completed as part of the resource delineation drilling program. The drill holes were variably completed from collar positions located on either lake ice, or on a floating barge deployed in Three Ducks Lake and from land based drill pads on the north shore of Three Ducks Lake or on the Young-Shannon peninsula.
IAMGOLD is reporting assay results from twenty-four (24) diamond drill holes totaling 10,049 metres. Results are pending for the remaining nine (9) drill holes totaling 3,686 metres. These results will be reported once they are received, validated and compiled.
The assay results reported herein are provided in Table 1, below, and include the following highlights (see plan map attached to this news release for drill hole locations):
Drill hole GOS19-30: 264.5 metres grading 0.94 g/t Au
includes: 27.0 metres grading 2.72 g/t Au
includes: 2.6 metres grading 12.87 g/t Au
Drill hole GOS19-33: 243.6 metres grading 0.99 g/t Au
includes: 142.0 metres grading 1.29 g/t Au
Drill hole GOS20-38: 202.0 metres grading 1.22 g/t Au
includes: 151.0 metres grading 1.50 g/t Au
Drill hole GOS20-44: 265.0 metres grading 0.95 g/t Au
includes: 169.0 metre grading 1.26 g/t Au
Drill hole GOS20-47: 417.3 metres grading 0.95 g/t Au
includes: 197.3 metres grading 1.60 g/t Au
Drill hole GOS20-48: 164.3 metres grading 1.51 g/t Au
Drill hole GOS20-49: 353.0 metres grading 1.04 g/t Au
includes: 46.0 metres grading 3.39 g/t Au
Drill hole GOS20-52: 86.0 metres grading 5.57 g/t Au
includes: 30.35 metres grading 14.70 g/t Au
Craig MacDougall, Executive Vice President, Growth for IAMGOLD, stated: "With the many challenges faced by the exploration team in 2020, the completion of this diamond drilling campaign was a significant achievement and has clearly brought into focus and confirmed the importance of this new discovery. The program was completed with outstanding safety performance while working cooperatively to coordinate with the numerous activities of the Côté mine site construction team. We are looking forward with anticipation to the completion of a maiden resource estimate later this year."
The diamond drilling program was designed to complete in-fill and delineation drilling on the Gosselin and Young-Shannon zones, at a nominal hole spacing of approximately 75 metres. The program was successful in confirming the continuity of broad zones of gold mineralization throughout the Gosselin Zone, at grades similar to the adjacent Côté deposit (see Table 1). As at Côté, mineralization is hosted within sericite-altered and locally brecciated intrusive lithologies of the Chester Intrusive Complex. Diamond drilling data collected from this program has provided an increased understanding of the geological, alteration and structural controls on the Gosselin mineralized system and is being integrated into exploration models to guide future drilling campaigns. The models suggest upside potential of the mineralized system in a number of directions, predominately at depth to the northwest, and along strike to the east and southwest.
The results of this program together with additional drilling planned in 2021 will be used to support the completion of a maiden resource estimate later this year.
Next Steps
Assay results will be incorporated into the geologic and structural models for the Gosselin and Young-Shannon zones to support the planned resource estimate expected later this year. The 2021 exploration program will include the completion of approximately 14,500 metres of diamond drilling to continue to delineate and expand the mineralized zone.
Elsewhere on the property, additional exploration drilling will begin to evaluate other identified targets along the developing mineralized trend of the Côté deposit and the Gosselin zone.
Figure 1 - Gosselin Zone Drill Hole surface plan and highlighted 2019-2020 assay
