TORONTO (miningweekly.com) - Toronto-based Iamgold is ahead of schedule again on its $443-million Essakane gold mine, in Burkina Faso, and will start processing ore through the mill as soon as next month, the firm announced on Monday.

The June start-up will be between four and six weeks ahead of the company's previous guidance, and a whole five to six months ahead of the original schedule when Iamgold took control of the project last year by buying junior Orezone Resources.

The firm has also recently run the numbers on capital costs for Essakane, and expects the project will come in on budget at $443-million.

"Since Iamgold acquired the Essakane property in early 2009, we will have successfully completed, on budget, an ambitious and logistically challenging project - another world-class flagship mine for our company, alongside our Rosebel mine in Suriname," interim CEO Peter Jones said in a statement.

Iamgold owns 90% of the Essakane project and the government of Burkina Faso holds the balance.

The mine is expected to produce more than 500 000 oz of gold from start-up until the end of 2011.

Cash costs are forecast at an average of $400/oz to $410/oz a year over the life-of-mine.

Overall, construction has been 90% completed and mechanical commissioning of a number of key process and infrastructure components have been completed or is under way, Iamgold said.

These include the 27,5-MW power generation plant, the freshwater supply system and the eight carbon-in-leach process tanks.

"All construction materials and equipment necessary for start-up are now at site and the effort in the coming weeks will focus on completing the installation of piping, electrical, and instrumentation elements," the firm said.

The primary crusher is not required for the initial phase of processing, as only soft oxide ore will be fed through the plant for the first few months.

The crushing plant will be completed about six weeks after the processing facility is finished, Iamgold said.

Mining has been under way for some time, and there will be about five-million tons of stockpiled ore by the time the mill starts up, representing some six months of feed through the mill.

The firm has also relocated more than 12 000 local residents, from five small villages and one large town, to new communities.

Besides Essakane, Iamgold has mines in Suriname, Canada, Botswana, Mali and Ghana, and development projects in Canada, Ecuador and French Guiana.

Shares in the company rose 1,6% on Monday, to C$18,47 apiece by 10:37 in Toronto.

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