Canadian gold miner Iamgold has announced a promising start to the year, reporting robust results across its operations and projects in the first quarter, positioning the company well to meet its guidance targets.

CEO Renaud Adams attributed the first-quarter success to the combination of stable operations and favourable grade reconciliation at the Essakane mine, in Burkina Faso, coupled with Westwood, in Canada, achieving its highest quarter of production since mining restarted in 2021.

Attributable gold production was 151 000 oz. Essakane had a strong first quarter with attributable production of 118 000 oz, while Westwood produced 32 000 oz. Initial attributable production from Côté Gold, also in Canada, was 1 000 oz.

“The highlight of the quarter, and a major milestone for Iamgold was the announcement of the first gold pour at the Côté Gold mine," said Adams.

“This achievement represents the culmination of over 15-million hours of work and over four years of construction to bring the project online within the revised budget - an incredible effort for the team on the ground.”

While cause for celebration, Adams said the first gold achievement was merely the first step in the road to bring Côté to full design capacity.

“The ramp-up of the operation is progressing well, with all major equipment - including crushers, high pressure grinding rolls, ball mill, cyclones, conveyors, piping, electrical connections and inter-plant programming communications - demonstrating their capability to operate at planned throughput levels. The key for Cote during this period is to steadily improve the plant availability and stability. We are seeing improvements every day and are confident in our estimate of commercial production in the third quarter 2024. This timeline will set us up well towards the goal of reaching 90% throughput exiting 2024 and ultimately position Côté Gold among the top gold mines in Canada."

Iamgold’s operation guidance for the year remains at 430 000 oz to 490 000 oz, excluding Côté, at an all-in sustaining cost of $1 780/oz to $1 940/oz.

The operating guidance for Côté for the year, on a 100% basis, is to produce between 220 000 oz and 290 000 oz, of which between 132 000 oz and 174 000 oz is attributable to Iamgold.