IAMGOLD Corp. provided a progress report for construction at its Côté gold project located in Ontario, Canada. Production is expected to commence in early 2024. At the end of September, overall project progress was estimated to be 90.6% complete, with construction progress approximately 92% complete.
“It is an exciting time for IAMGOLD as we near the finish line of construction at Côté and start a new chapter,” said Renaud Adams, president and CEO for IAMGOLD. “This is a project that is critical for the repositioning of this company. When Côté comes online, [IAMGOLD] will have a significantly higher production base and lower cost profile, providing a strong foundation of cashflow and growth opportunities in Canada.”
Commissioning and pre-commissioning teams are working with construction teams to coordinate the overlapping of pre-operation activities with remaining construction. Earthworks on the dams for the tailings management facility has reached an elevation that would enable the storage of 1.1 – 1.5 million m3 required for commissioning and initial operation.
IAMGOLD has hired more than 400 people for key positions at the mine. The mine’s fleet of autonomous haul trucks have continued to ramp up, with 10 Cat 793F currently operating autonomously and a total of 14 commissioned. The company said its operations team are continuously improving haulage roads and dumping location to achieve improved autonomous haulage efficiency and cycle times. At the end of Q3 2023, they had built an ore stockpile of 3.7 million metric tons (mt), and the mine is on track to reach the 5-million-mt, end-of-year target. Autonomous drilling began during Q3 2023 with four Pit Vipers now in operation.
