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NEWS RELEASE
IAMGOLD'S CÔTÉ GOLD PROJECT: AN EXCELLENT OPTION FOR FUTURE GROWTHPOSITIVE PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT AND GOVERNMENT APPROVAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
All amounts are in US dollars, unless otherwise indicated.
Toronto, Ontario, January 26, 2017 - IAMGOLD Corporation ("IAMGOLD" or the "Company") today announced the positive results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for its Côté Gold Project (Project) in Northern Ontario. The Company also received approval of the Project's provincial environmental assessment from the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change on January 25, 2017, which follows the positive decision on the federal environmental assessment issued by the Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change in April 2016. Positive decisions on the federal and provincial environmental assessments for the Project clear the way for the Company to initiate applications on permits to support development following the completion of a pre-feasibility study.Steve Letwin, President and CEO of IAMGOLD, said "The Côté Gold Project provides us with an exceptional option for future growth. Since acquiring Côté several years ago we have been focused on de- risking the project. Our drilling program, since IAMGOLD took over the Project, has led to a nine-fold increase in the indicated resource to eight million ounces with another one million ounce inferred resource. The positive results of the PEA demonstrate the potential for Côté Gold to be a low-cost, 21-year mine with attractive returns. The pre-feasibility study is in progress to validate the development concept set out in the PEA.
"Côté Gold is one of Canada's largest undeveloped gold deposits," continued Mr. Letwin, "so securing positive decisions on both the federal and provincial environmental assessments for the Project is a major regulatory milestone that confirms we can build and operate an environmentally sustainable mine that aligns with our Zero Harm goals. I thank all the many individuals and organizations for participating in these environmental reviews. By considering environmental and social impacts early in the mining process, we have been able to plan a mine that will benefit shareholders and indigenous communities, along with other stakeholders. We will continue to closely engage our indigenous partner communities and other stakeholders as we move the project forward, and to seek further opportunities for improvement as a responsible miner."
The PEA was completed jointly by IAMGOLD and Amec Foster Wheeler, with inputs from technical studies completed by other consultants. The PEA represents a conceptual study of the potential viability of the mineral resources that have been defined to date on the Project, where the accuracy of the cost estimates is -30%/+50%. The purpose of the PEA study was to assess the potential development alternatives available with an improved land position following the acquisition of additional ownership interests and claims, and to reduce the energy requirements of the Project while minimizing infrastructure development needs. The PEA study also identified additional testwork required to support a pre-feasibility study. We expect the pre-feasibility study to be completed by the end of the second quarter 2017.
Based on the PEA, the Project outlines an economically viable project that at a $1,200 per ounce gold price would generate an estimated 12.9% after-tax internal rate of return. The Project would have a 21- year mine life, producing on average 302,000 ounces of gold a year at average total cash costs of $564/oz and all-in sustaining costs of $686/oz.
A technical report summarizing the PEA will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of the date of this news release.
PEA HIGHLIGHTSProject Economics and Key Parameters | ||
Mining Capacity | Years 1-3 | 60 Mtpa |
Years 4-14 | 50 Mtpa | |
Years 15-18 | 15 Mtpa | |
Milling Capacity | 29,000 t/d | |
LOM Average Annual Gold Production | 302,000 oz. | |
Targeted Recovery Rate | 91.9% | |
Mine Life | 21 years | |
LOM Average Total Cash Costs | $564/oz | |
LOM Average AISC | $686/oz | |
Average Grade | 0.97 g/t Au | |
Average LOM Strip Ratio | 2.66 | |
Estimated Capital Expenditures (millions) | ||
Initial Capital | $1,031 | |
Sustaining Capital | $440 | |
Closure Costs | $40 | |
Gold Price Assumption used in financial analysis | $1,200/oz | |
Pre-tax NPV (6%) (millions) | $851 | |
Pre-Tax IRR | 15.4% | |
After-tax NPV (6%) (millions) | $543 | |
After-tax IRR | 12.9% | |
Payback Period | 5.2 years |
USD Currency used with exchange rate of: CAD$ = US$0.74
The above results of the PEA are preliminary in nature, and include Inferred Mineral Resources which are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them in a way that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
MINERAL RESOURCE BASIS FOR THE PEAThe Mineral Resources used as the basis for the study are those disclosed in the Company's current Mineral Resource and Reserve statement (Feb. 17, 2016 news release) and are summarized below.
Mineral Resource Estimate - December 31, 2015 | ||||
Classification | Cut-off Grade (g/t Au) | Tonnes (000) | Grade (g/t Au) | Contained Ounces (000) |
Indicated | 0.30 | 289,183 | 0.90 | 8,354 |
Inferred | 0.30 | 66,894 | 0.55 | 1,174 |
CIM Definition Standards were followed for classification of Mineral Resources.
Mineral Resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.30 g/t Au.
High grade assays are capped from 15 g/t to 60 g/t Au depending on sub-domain.
Bulk density of 2.72 t/m3 was used for all rocks.
The Mineral Resource estimate is constrained within a Whittle pit shell that assumes a gold price of
$1,500 per ounce and metallurgical recovery of 93.5%.
Mineral Resources are reported on a 100% basis. IAMGOLD owns 92.5% of the Côté Gold Project.
Raphael Dutaut Msc. Géo is the Qualified Person for this estimate.
The tonnes, grades and classification of the mineral resources captured within the PEA mine plan are summarized below. A relatively small amount (15.3%) of the tonnes scheduled in the mine plan are Inferred Resources.
Classification | Tonnes (000) | Grade (g/t Au) |
Indicated | 187,237 | 1.03 |
Inferred | 33,887 | 0.61 |
Mine plan is constrained by a design pit that assumes $1,200/oz gold price and 91.9% metallurgical recovery.
Mine plan uses a variable cut-off grade.
Assumes 1% mining losses and 5% waste dilution @ 0 g/t Au
The PEA study envisions a conventional truck and shovel open pit mining operation using a processing circuit incorporating primary crushing, secondary crushing, tertiary High Pressure Grinding Roll crushing, ball milling, gravity concentration and cyanide leaching, followed by gold recovery using carbon-in-pulp, stripping and electrowinning. The crushing-grinding circuit being utilized is more energy efficient than a standard SAG or a pre-crush circuit. A thickened tailings management facility is considered and the mine site would be powered by a 44km tap line connection to Hydro One's Shining Tree Substation. Key parameters that provide the basis for the PEA and other qualifications and assumptions are provided below:
Parameter | Value |
Maximum Mining Capacity | 60Mtpa |
Stockpile Capacity | 30Mt |
Processing Rate | 29Ktpd/10.6Mtpa |
Metallurgical Recoveries | 91.90% |
Pit mining includes 40 Mt extracted during the one year pre-production period followed by 19 years of production mining. Stockpile reclaim extends the operation into Year 22. The amount of rehandled mill feed over the life of the operation is 65 Mt. The average grade scheduled is 0.97 g/t Au and the LOM stripping ratio is 2.66:1.
Unit Production CostsLife of mine total cash costs are estimated at $564/oz of gold and all-in sustaining costs at $686/oz of gold.
Capital CostsInitial Capital costs are estimated at $1,031 million, life-of-mine Sustaining Capital costs are estimated at
$440 million, and Closure costs are estimated at $40 million, with details below. Costs assume leasing of the mine production fleet and some other major equipment components.
Capital Cost Estimate Summary | |
Initial Capital | $M |
Mine Equipment | 35 |
Electrical & Communications | 91 |
Infrastructure | 60 |
Process Plant | 345 |
Tailings & Water Management | 25 |
Indirects | 219 |
Contingency (25%) | 175 |
Mining Pre-production | 81 |
1,031 | |
Sustaining Capital | |
Mining | 122 |
Tailings & Water Management | 125 |
Capital Leases | 193 |
440 | |
Closure Costs | 40 |
Average operating costs per tonne processed are as follows:
Average Operating Costs ($/ tonne milled) | |
Mining | 8.62 |
Processing | 6.20 |
G&A | 1.34 |
Total | 16.16 |
The PEA recommended the completion of a further pre-feasibility study to validate and detail the elements of the development concept set out in the PEA, and which would include additional drilling, engineering studies and environmental studies, including hydrological, hydrogeological and geotechnical analyses. As previously disclosed, a feasibility study had been underway on an initial development scenario, which will now await the outcome of the pre-feasibility study and selection of the development scenario for further study. The recommended pre-feasibility study is underway and we expect it to be completed by the end of the second quarter 2017. In addition, we continue to conduct exploration activities within our more than 500-square-kilometre property surrounding the Côté Gold deposit, the objective being to develop and assess targets that could further maximize our flexibility with respect to future development decisions.
Qualified PersonsThe 2016 Côté Gold PEA was prepared by Amec Foster Wheeler and incorporates the work of IAMGOLD Qualified Persons (QP's) (as defined under National Instrument 43-101). Amec Foster Wheeler Qualified Persons are independent of IAMGOLD and have reviewed and approved this news release. IAMGOLD Qualified Persons are not independent of IAMGOLD and have reviewed and approved this news release.
IAMGOLD Corporation published this content on 26 January 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 07 February 2017 22:06:05 UTC.
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