Yahoo Finance IAMGOLD (IAG) Announces First Gold Pour at Cote Gold Mine
IAMGOLD Corporation IAG announced that it completed its first gold pour at the Côté Gold Mine, located in Ontario, Canada, on Mar 31, 2024. This marks a milestone for IAG as the mine is expected to significantly boost its production while lowering its cost profile, thus establishing a solid foundation of cash flow and growth opportunities in Canada.
With Côté Gold coming online, IAMGOLD now operates three active mines, alongside Essakane in Burkina Faso and Westwood in Quebec, Canada.
Côté Gold is operated as a joint venture between IAMGOLD (as the operator) and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Sumitomo SSUMY. IAG and Sumitomo Metal Mining started construction on the Côté Gold Project in the third quarter of 2020.
Having achieved the milestone of the first gold pour, IAMGOLD will concentrate on ramping up operations toward commercial production scheduled for the third quarter of 2024. The aim is to achieve a throughput rate of 90% by the year end, contingent upon meeting remaining milestones.
Production guidance from Côté Gold mine for 2024 (on a 100% basis) remains at 220,000 to 290,000 ounces of gold, subject to the fulfillment of the remaining project milestones. For 2024, excluding Côté Gold, IAG anticipates attributable gold production to range between 430,000 ounces and 490,000 ounces. IAMGOLD reported attributable gold production of 465,000 ounces for 2023, which declined 35% year over year but came near the top end of its prior stated guidance of 410,000-470,000 ounces.
Attributable gold production at Essakane is expected to be in the range of 330,000 to 370,000 ounces compared with 372,000 ounces in 2023. Westwood’s gold production is expected to be in the range of 100,000 to 120,000 ounces in 2024, higher than 93,000 ounces in 2023.
Côté Gold has a total estimated measured and indicated mineral resource of 16.5 million ounces with an additional 4.2 million ounces of inferred resources. At a steady run rate, Côté Gold is expected to rank among the largest operating gold mines in Canada. It has an expected mine life of more than 18 years and significant opportunities for growth.
The Côté Gold project will be the first gold mining project in North America that will be operated by a fully automated haulage fleet. Automation offers significant benefits in safety and operating efficiencies.
Price Performance
Shares of IAMGOLD have gained 25.4% in a year against the industry’s 1.4% decline.
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Zacks Rank & Key Picks
IAMGOLD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks from the basic materials space are Ecolab Inc. ECL and Carpenter Technology Corporation CRS. ECL and CRS sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Ecolab’s 2024 earnings is pegged at $6.39 per share, indicating an increase of 22.7% from the prior year’s reported number. It has an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 1.7%. ECL shares have gained 39% in a year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Carpenter Technology’s 2024 earnings is pegged at $4.00 per share. The consensus estimate for 2024 earnings has moved 1% north in the past 60 days. It has an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 14.3%. CRS shares have gained 72% in a year.
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