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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canadian miner Iamgold on Wednesday said it had lifted the National Instrument 43-101-compliant indicated resource at its Côté gold project, in northern Ontario, by 114% from the previous resource estimate reported in October 2012. The company said most of the mineral resources at the project had now been upgraded to the indicated category.
The new Côté gold resource estimate incorporated assay results from 85 additional drill holes, comprising 47 325 m since the October 4, 2012 estimate, and now entails 269-million tons grading 0.88 g/t for 7.61-million ounces and an inferred resource of 44-million tons averaging 0.74 g/t for 1.04-million ounces.
The estimate used a cutoff grade of 0.30 g/t of gold, similar to the cutoff used in the previous resource estimate.
The company said a positive attribute of the Côté gold deposit is its accessibility for openpit mining. The deposit locally outcrops at surface and, based on the drilling to date, the depth of the barren overburden averages 5.8 m.
Meanwhile, Iamgold also reported the fourth quarter of 2012 was its strongest, during which it produced 214 000 attributable ounces, which brought its 2012 attributable gold production to 830 000 oz, below the low end of its revised guidance of 840 000 oz to 910 000 oz. The company said the below-expectations-production was mainly owing to its underperforming joint venture (JV) operations.
The company in November cut its 2013 production target to this range from an earlier forecast of 1-million to 1.1-million ounces. At the time, it cited poor performance at its Sadiola mine, in Mali, and a slower ramp-up at the Westwood project, in Quebec.
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