TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Iamgold CEO Joseph Conway will leave the company on January 15, the gold-miner announced on Monday.

The firm will start searching for a new chief executive, and has appointed director Peter C Jones, a former Inco executive, as acting CEO in the meantime.

Conway said it was an “appropriate” time for him to step down.

“I am proud to have led Iamgold through the transformation of a joint-venture player to an established operating company with a number of exciting development projects with a solid financial position and management team."

Iamgold has mines in Africa, South America and Canada.

The company said in November it would produce between 940 000 oz and 950 000 oz of gold for the full year of 2009, well above its initial guidance for the year of 880 000 oz.

The increased guidance reflected improved productivity at its Rosebel mine, in Suriname, and the extended life of the Doyon mine, which continued to produce into the fourth quarter, Iamgold said at the time.

During 2009, Conway acquired Canadian junior Orezone Resources, adding the large Essakane gold project, in Burkina Faso to Iamgold's pipeline.

The operation expected to start production in the second half of this year, with 2010 output forecast at 135 000 oz, ramping up to an average of 315 000 oz/y over about a ten-year life-of-mine.

Iamgold shares rose 1,6% on Monday morning, to C$16,78 apiece by 10:48 in Toronto.

(Mining Weekly Online reported incorrectly this morning that Jones was previously CEO of HudBay Minerals. It was, in fact, a different Peter Jones.)

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