Please login or register to join our webinar.

E-mail address:
Password:
Forgot your password?
Log in
REGISTRATION
Home > News > Côté Gold's first pour...

Côté Gold's first pour takes center stage in IAMGOLD's first quarter

May 10, 2024


"IAMGOLD started 2024 with very strong performance across its operations, projects and in health and safety," said Renaud Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer of IAMGOLD. "At its operations, the company reported attributable production of 151,000 ounces. This outperformance was driven by stable operations and positive grade reconciliation at Essakane, coupled with Westwood achieving its highest quarter of production since the restart of the mine in 2021. Looking forward, Essakane and Westwood are well positioned to achieve their guidance targets this year, and I want to thank both teams for the commitment to Zero Harm®, accountability and performance."

"The highlight of the quarter, and a major milestone for IAMGOLD was the announcement of the first gold pour at the Côté Gold mine," continued Mr. Adams. "This achievement represents the culmination of over 15 million hours of work and over four years of construction to bring the project online within the revised budget - an incredible effort for the team on the ground. While cause for celebration, the first gold achievement is but the first step in the road to bring Côté to full design capacity. The ramp up of the operation is progressing well, with all major equipment - including crushers, high pressure grinding rolls ("HPGR"), ball mill, cyclones, conveyors, piping, electrical connections and inter-plant programming communications - demonstrating their capability to operate at planned throughput levels. The key for Cote during this period is to steadily improve the plant availability and stability. We are seeing improvements every day and are confident in our estimate of commercial production in the third quarter 2024. This timeline will set us up well towards the goal of reaching 90% throughput exiting 2024 and ultimately position Côté Gold among the top gold mines in Canada."

HIGHLIGHTS:

Operating and Financial

  • Attributable gold production was 151,000 ounces. Essakane had a strong first quarter with attributable production of 118,000 ounces, mainly due to higher grades, Westwood achieved its highest quarterly production since restarting with production of 32,000 ounces and initial attributable production was achieved at Côté Gold of 1,000 ounces.

  • Operating guidance for the year is unchanged. Attributable gold production, excluding Côté Gold, for 2024 is expected to be in the range of 430,000 to 490,000 ounces, with cash costs per ounce sold for Essakane and Westwood to be between $1,280 and $1,400 per ounce sold and AISC expected to be in the range of $1,780 to $1,940 per ounce sold. 

  • Revenues were $338.9 million from sales of 163,000 ounces (150,000 ounces on an attributable basis) at an average realized gold price1 of $2,077 per ounce.

  • Cost of sales per ounce sold was $1,056, cash cost1 per ounce sold was $1,053 and all-in-sustaining-cost1 ("AISC") per ounce sold was $1,493 (excluding Côté Gold). 

  • Net earnings and adjusted net earnings per share attributable to equity holders1 of $0.11 and $0.11, respectively.

  • Net cash from operating activities was $77.1 million. Net cash from operating activities, before movements in working capital and non-current ore stockpiles1 was $142.8 million.

  • Earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA")1 was $154.1 million and adjusted EBITDA1 was $152.5 million.

  • Mine-site free cash flow1, excluding Côté Gold, was $46.2 million. 

  • The Company has available liquidity1 of $693.8 million, mainly comprised of cash and cash equivalents of $291.2 million and the available balance of the secured revolving credit facility ("Credit Facility") of $402.3 million as at March 31, 2024.

  • In health and safety, for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, the Company reported a DARTFR (days away, restricted, transferred duty frequency rate) of 0.53, an improved trend since last year and a TRIFR (total recordable injuries frequency rate) of 0.61, an improved trend since last year. 

  • On April 19, 2024, the Company received an updated credit rating from Standard and Poor's which upgraded the corporate credit rating from CCC+ to B- with a stable outlook. This compares with the Company's existing corporate credit ratings from Fitch and Moody's of B- and B3 respectively.

Côté Gold

  • The first gold pour was completed on March 31, 2024, with the crushing, HPGR and processing circuits performing within expectations, including power consumption. Construction is also substantially complete and the construction teams have been demobilized with a successful handover to the operations team. Operations are scheduled to continue to ramp-up in the second quarter 2024 and commercial production is expected to be achieved during the third quarter 2024. The Company expects the Côté Gold operation to exit the year at approximately 90% of nameplate throughput. 

  • Operating guidance for Côté Gold is unchanged, with 2024 production (on a 100% basis) expected to be between 220,000 and 290,000 ounces for the year (132,000 and 174,000 ounces on a 60.3% basis for IAMGOLD). As Côté Gold achieves 90% throughput, which is expected by the end of the year, the Company estimates cash costs at that time to be in the range of approximately $700 to $800 per ounce sold and AISC of $1,100 to $1,200 per ounce sold.

  • On a 100% basis at the UJV level, the Côté Gold Project incurred project expenditures1 of $151.7 million in the first quarter 2024. Since commencement of construction, $2.935 billion of the planned $2.965 billion of project expenditures has been incurred up to achievement of first gold. Remaining project expenditures post first gold are estimated to be $67 million ±5%, in line with guidance. 

  • IAMGOLD will continue to fund 60.3% of the operating costs and capital expenditures and will receive 60.3% of the gold production. See "Côté Gold".

Corporate

  • On April 4, 2024, the Company announced that it entered into a gold prepay arrangement and a partial amendment to one of its existing gold prepayment arrangements. The net result of these arrangements is the effective transition of the cash impact of the current gold delivery obligations out of the second quarter of 2024 into the same period in the following year, increasing cashflow in the second quarter 2024 by approximately $73.6 million assuming gold prices at the time of the arrangement. See "Liquidity and Capital Resources".

  • On February 15, 2024, the Company announced that Murray Suey has been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors effective immediately. Mr. Suey has also been appointed as the Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee.

  • On February 13, 2024, the Company acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Vanstar for consideration of approximately 12.0 million common shares of the Company. Vanstar owned a 25% interest in the Nelligan Gold Project ("Nelligan") in Quebec, Canada. With the acquisition of Vanstar complete, the Company now owns a 100% interest in Nelligan. 

  • On February 27, 2024, the Company announced that it had completed the acquisition of all the outstanding common shares of EURO Ressources S.A., following the approval by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers in France on January 23, 2024. IAMGOLD France acquired the remaining outstanding common shares of EURO that IAMGOLD France did not already own for cash consideration of €3.50 per share for an aggregate consideration of €21.9 million ($23.7 million), followed immediately by a "squeeze-out" under French law and the subsequent delisting of Euro Ressources from the Euronext Paris stock exchange.

 



Tags: Northern Ontario / Operational Updates / Gold / All Articles