Gogama mine golden opportunity for Timmins – by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – January 30, 2013)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Plans and preparation are falling into place for IAMGOLD’s Coté Lake project. The company is edging closer to the realization of its open-pit gold mine south of Gogama.

IAMGOLD representatives made a presentation at the Porcupine Dante Club on Tuesday as part of the Timmins Chamber of Commerce’s Inside Their Business luncheon series.

“We are a mid-tier mining company with many operations around the world,” said IAM representative Steve Wolfenden. “We have operations in Surinam, west Africa and two projects in Quebec and now we are bringing a major focus to expanding our presence in Ontario.

“The Coté Lake project is exactly how we are going to do just that.” Wolfenden spoke to a full house, which included representation from mining contracting and auxiliary services from Timmins.

“At this point in time we are trying to characterize what is to come,” he said. “We are deeply invested in our preliminary feasibility studies at the moment, working to assess what we have, what we need and what government requires of us.

“We’ve got a timeline which we hope to keep, but we are still very early in the game.”

Exploration drills are spinning in and around the property once owned by Trelawney Mining and Exploration Inc. in an area known as the Swayze belt. It has been home to a handful of low-grade mining operations over the past century.

“The Coté Lake area has been an active mining area since the beginning of the 20th century,” said Wolfenden. “Most recently was the Chester mining operation owned by Trewlaney Mining, which we purchased from them back in June of 2012.”

The future for the Coté Lake project involves the drainage of the 32-hectare lake that gives the project its name, a two-year calender for approvals and a further two years for site construction. The anticipated operational date is around late 2016 and early 2017.

For the rest of this article, please go to the Timmins Daily Press website: http://www.timminspress.com/2013/01/29/gogama-mine-golden-opportunity-for-timmins