IAMGOLD Reports Assay Results from the Astoria Area Drilling Program on the Rouyn Gold Project

IAMGOLD Corporation announces assay results from its 2020 exploration diamond drilling program completed on the Astoria Target Area at the Rouyn Gold Project (the "Rouyn Project") optioned from Yorbeau Resources Inc. ("Yorbeau"). The Rouyn Project is located 4 km south of Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, and approximately 45 kilometers southwest of IAMGOLD's Westwood operation.

The Company is reporting assay results from eleven (11) diamond drill holes, totaling 5,950 metres drilled on the Astoria area, located approximately one kilometre east of the Lac Gamble Zone. Two (2) drill holes were abandoned or did not reach the target zone due to excessive deviation.

The assay results reported herein are provided in Table 1, below, and include the following highlights (a longitudinal section illustrating the drilling program on the Astoria Area is attached to this news release):

Astoria Area - Upper Piché Zone:

• Drill hole AS-20-773A: 2.0 metres grading 13.2 g/t Au

• Drill hole AS-20-775: 2.8 metres grading 7.5 g/t Au
      includes:0.8 metres grading 15.0 g/t Au

• Drill hole AS-20-775W: 7.6 metres grading 9.7 g/t Au
      includes:2.0 metres grading 29.3 g/t Au

Astoria Area - Lower Piché Zone:

• Drill hole AS-17-669W: 2.0 metres grading 7.6 g/t Au

• Drill hole AS-20-772: 11.1 metres grading 3.7 g/t Au
      includes:1.0 metres grading 23.5 g/t Au

Astoria Area - Main Zone:

• Drill hole AS-20-772: 6.1 metres grading 3.4 g/t Au
      includes:3.0 metres grading 6.2 g/t Au

• Drill hole AS-20-776: 14.0 metres grading 3.4 g/t Au
      includes:7.0 metres grading 5.6 g/t Au

Craig MacDougall, Executive Vice President, Growth for IAMGOLD, stated: "The completion of this program has provided important information to assess the potential of the historic Astoria deposit. The program was conducted in accordance with well-established Company-wide health and safety protocols to manage the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. These results will be used to update our geological models and help guide our exploration program to continue to assess the resource potential for this area. Drilling has now resumed at Lac Gamble and will include the completion of selected infill holes, as well as geotechnical drill holes to assess rock quality of the host rock units."

The objective of the Astoria area diamond drilling program was to test selected priority targets proximal to the known mineralization to evaluate for the presence and continuity of mineralized extensions with potential to outline a resource. 

The program successfully intersected the targeted sheared Cadillac-Piché corridor, which hosts several mineralized zones. At Astoria, mineralized zones are associated with alteration varying from several metres to greater than ten metres in width, hosted in the ultramafic rocks of the Piché Group, exhibiting variable carbonatization, fuchsite, silicification, crosscut by a network of white quartz and brown tourmaline stockwork veins and breccias, which define the Upper and Lower Piché zones. Gold mineralization occurs as small specks of visible free gold associated with minor sulphides in quartz-tourmaline veinlets. 

A mineralized zone, referred to as the Main zone, is also observed at the contact with the sedimentary sequence bordering the south contact of the Piché Group and is characterized by grey quartz veinlets containing rare visible gold and up to 10% disseminated to narrow massive bands of Arsenopyrite adjacent to the veins. Occasionally similar mineralization is also observed exclusively hosted in sediments and is referred to as the Footwall zone.

Next Steps

The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and local availability of drill rigs continues to impact the pace at which planned exploration activities are advanced. However, exploration drilling has resumed at the Rouyn Project and a 14,000 metre diamond drilling program is planned in 2021 to further delineate the Lac Gamble and Astoria zones. The program will also include the evaluation of the resource potential of other selected targets, including in the Cinderella and Augmitto areas located further west of the Lac Gamble zone. Currently, a geotechnical drilling program has commenced to assess rock quality of the host rock units at Lac Gamble. 

The assay results from the drilling programs will be integrated with the existing geological, geochemical and structural information to support the development and refinement of preliminary deposit models on the property to support a future potential maiden resource estimate.

About the Rouyn Gold Project

The Rouyn Gold Property is located about 4 km south of Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. With a long history of mining, the city of Rouyn-Noranda offers many advantages for mining and exploration, including political and social stability, good access and infrastructure, skilled mining personnel, and one of the most mining-friendly jurisdictions in the world.

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