IAMGOLD extends Gosselin footprint at Côté Gold Project south of Timmins

Ontario's newest gold mine keeps growing. IAMGOLD Corporation has announced additional assay results from its delineation diamond drilling program at the Gosselin zone discovery, centered approximately 1.5 kilometres northeast of the Côté Gold construction project south of Timmins. The Gosselin delineation drilling program is being undertaken as part of the Côté Gold 70:30 joint venture between IAMGOLD, as the operator, and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. ("SMM"). Côté Gold is currently under construction with commercial production anticipated in the second half of 2023.

Highlights include:

• 355.5 meters ("m") at 0.78 grams per tonne gold ("g/t Au") in drill hole GOS21-94 from 128.5 m including
  • 96.6 m at 1.50 g/t Au from 383.4 m; 
• 256.0 m at 2.05 g/t Au in drill hole GOS21-98 from 156.0 m including
  • 1.0 m at 101.0 g/t Au from 284.0 m; and
  • 1.0 m at 197.0 g/t Au from 321.0 m;
• 357.5 m at 0.55 g/t Au in drill hole GOS21-101 from 65.5 m including
  • 48.5 m at 1.03 g/t Au from 65.5 m, and
  • 111.0 m at 0.86 g/t Au from 312.0 m;
• 173.0 m at 0.70 g/t Au in drill hole GOS21-95 from 228.0 m including
  • 102.0 m at 0.95 g/t Au from 273.0 m;
• 87.9 m at 1.30 g/t Au in drill hole GOS21-102 from 335.1 m, including
  • 1.0 m at 60.20 g/t from 383.5 m.

Craig MacDougall, Executive Vice President, Growth for IAMGOLD, stated: "Our confidence in the Gosselin resource continues to build and these latest results compare well with predicted grades from the resource block model and in some cases have extended the mineralization outside of the resource boundaries of the mineralization model. Our planned drilling program in 2022 will target areas with potential for resource expansion."

IAMGOLD is reporting assay results from an additional ten (10) diamond drill holes totaling 4,149 metres completed between July and October, 2021, for which results were received after the closure of the database used to support the Gosselin deposit mineral resources estimate disclosed on October 18, 2021. The assay results reported are provided in Table 1 below (refer to plan map for drill hole locations outlined in Figure 1). 

On September 21, 2021, IAMGOLD reported assay results for thirty one (31) diamond drill holes totaling 11,735 metres completed in 2021. These results of the in-fill drilling program were incorporated into the initial mineral resource estimate for the Gosselin deposit announced on October 18, 2021 (refer to Company news release dated October 18, 2021) which estimated 3.35 million ounces in indicated resources and a further 1.71 million ounces in inferred resources (on a 100% basis using a US$1,500 per ounce gold price).

Next Steps

The resource estimation process has identified a number of areas with potential for resource expansion at depth, along strike and in areas where drill hole spacing remains too wide to classify mineral resources at this time. The Gosselin deposit has only been drilled to about half the depth of the Côté Gold deposit and remains open at depth where a number of drill holes ended in mineralization. In addition, an overlap area between the Gosselin deposit and the adjacent Côté Gold resource pit shells could potentially provide an opportunity for optimization of a combined pit shell selection, which may unlock mineral resources in the overlap area. A winter diamond drilling program is planned to begin testing these expansion target areas and preparation of land and lake-ice based platforms are presently in progress.

Additional technical studies are planned which will include: a sampling program to advance future metallurgical test work to evaluate comminution characteristics and gold recoveries over a range of ore types and grades; mining and infrastructure studies to review alternatives to optimize the inclusion of the Gosselin deposit resources into future Côté Gold life-of-mine plans; and commencing the collection of additional baseline data to support future permitting requirements.

Figure 1 - Gosselin drill hole surface plan and 2021 assay highlights

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