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Canada’s IAMGOLD Corp. (TSX IMG), (NYSE: IAG) is working on expanding its footprint in Burkina Faso, West Africa, where it already operates its Essakane mine, in production since 2010.
From the drilling carried out this year around the mine, particularly the Gossey satellite deposit, located 15 km north, IAMGOLD has concluded the prospect holds combined, indicated and inferred resources amounting to 376,000 gold ounces.
The initial estimate for Gossey, the miner said Wednesday, shows 10.5 million tonnes of indicated resources averaging 0.87 grams of gold per tonne for 291,000 ounces and 2.9 million tonnes of inferred resources averaging 0.91 grams of gold for 85,000 ounces.
Combined indicated and inferred resources for the satellite deposit, located 15 km northwest of Essakane gold mine in Burkina Faso, amount to 376,000 gold ounces.
The figures, said VP exploration Craig MacDougall, confirms the potential for the Gossey- Korizena trend to host significant gold mineralization.
The executive has enough reasons to be that optimistic, as this year has been a good one for IMAGOLD in West Africa.
The Toronto-based miner began 2018 with high-grade assay results from its Siribaya gold project in Mali and completed a prefeasibility study on its Boto gold project in Senegal in February.
In March, IAMGOLD opened up the world’s largest hybrid solar-thermal power plant at its Essakane mine, and in June wrapped up a prefeasibility study on heap-leaching, which showed the mine life could be extended from 2023 to 2026.
The company also upped the operation’s probable reserves by 39% to between 1.3 and 4.7 million ounces, while it increased indicated resources by 19% to 5.1 million ounces. Inferred resources, in turn, surged 54% to 0.6 million ounces.
The Burkina Faso mine is expected to yield between 380,000 and 395,000 ounces of gold by year-end. In 2017, Essakane produced a record 389,000 gold ounces.
IAMGOLD holds just over 1,000 km2 of mineral rights surrounding the operation.
