TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canada's Iamgold produced 939 000 oz of gold in 2009, in line with its guidance for the year, and expects output in 2010 will be between 940 000 oz and one-million ounces, as the company ramps up a new gold mine in Burkina Faso.

Iamgold had initially said it would produce 880 000 oz in 2009, but raised its estimate to between 940 000 oz and 950 000 oz by November, citing operational improvements at the company's biggest producing mine, the Rosebel operation in Suriname.

“Our flagship operation, the Rosebel gold mine, drove our outperformance with record total gold production of over 400 000 ounces,” interim CEO Peter Jones confirmed in a statement on Thursday.

Jones stepped in as CEO on January 15, following the surprise resignation of long-time chief Joe Conway.

He will remain in the position until the company appoints a permanent CEO.

Iamgold has mines in Suriname, Canada, Botswana, Mali and Ghana, and is scheduled to start up a new operation, Essakane, in Burkina Faso in August. It also has development projects in Canada, Ecuador and French Guiana.

However, Iamgold said it plans to record a noncash impairment charge of between $85-million and $100-million in its fourth-quarter results, mainly related to the Camp Caiman project in French Guiana.

The firm said it still expects that cash costs for 2009 will fall within its latest guidance range of $460/oz to $470/oz, and has forecast costs of $490/oz to $510/oz in 2010.

Besides output from the new Essakane mine, production levels in 2010 will also be helped by Iamgold's increased ownership, from 38% to 41%, in the Sadiola mine, in Mali, and higher production at the Tarkwa operation, in Ghana, which it owns with South Africa'a Gold Fields.

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