By: Mining reveiw Africa

The company reported total attributable gold production of 667,000 ounces for the year, a 43% increase over 2023, aligning with the company’s previously raised guidance estimates. The strong performance was primarily driven by the successful ramp-up of the Côté Gold mine, along with the outperformance of the Essakane and Westwood operations.

Renaud Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer of IAMGOLD, said last year was a monumental year for IAMGOLD, as the company achieved key milestones to position the company as a dynamic, modern, multi-asset, mid-tier gold producer that is poised for potential free cash flow expansion while retaining significant growth opportunities.

“IAMGOLD finished 2024 with total attributable gold production of 667,000 gold ounces, a 43% increase from the prior year and in line with our previously raised guidance estimates. This strong performance was driven by the start of production at Côté Gold and the outperformance of Essakane and Westwood,” added Adams.

“The Côté Gold team had a very strong year, as the mine achieved among the quickest ramp-ups to commercial production for a large-scale open-pit gold mine in Canada. Our efforts continue to be focused on the ramp-up of the processing plant towards achieving the nameplate throughput rate of 36,000 tpd at a steady, sustainable rate. We are prioritising stability and operating consistency while refining and balancing our maintenance schedules for wear and tear. The plant has demonstrated its ability to operate above nameplate over multi-day periods, and with an additional secondary crusher scheduled to be installed in November, we look forward to determining the potential of the plant to sustainably achieve over nameplate with minimal capital spending in the near term.

“Longer term, we will continue to pursue improvements in mining and processing activities and investigate the potential options to bring into the mine plan the full resource base estimate of the Côté and Gosselin zones—which combine for over 16.5 million ounces of measured and indicated and 4.2 million ounces of inferred resources—to define Côté Gold among Canada’s largest gold mines in operation.”

He further said at Essakane, the mine achieved the top end of guidance with strong, stable operations through the year. While the cost of operations in the country has risen over the last two years, Essakane is positioned to generate strong cash flows as waste stripping is scheduled to decline year over year. The exploration team has done an amazing job with the updated mineral reserves estimate announced earlier this week, in which we saw Essakane more than replace reserve depletion, thereby implying the potential for further mine life extension within the secured perimeter of our operations.

“Finally, the transformation of Westwood has been among the top mining success stories in 2024, as the last few years of redevelopment and rehabilitation resulted in the successful turnaround of the mine, where it finished the year generating $94.4 million in mine site free cash flow. Further, this achievement was during a transitional year as our teams completed the safe rehabilitation of the mine and began standard underground development and mining operations.”