Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave his blessing to IAMGOLD (TSX: IMG) (NYSE: IAG) and Sumitomo Metal Mining’s Côté gold project in Ontario.
The Prime Minister attended the project’s official ground-breaking, which was also attended by local First Nations, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, cabinet ministers, members of parliament and company personnel.
Côté Gold has the potential to produce 460,000 ounces of gold annually at low all-in sustaining costs of $700 per ounce in the first six years of production
“Creating more than a thousand jobs during construction and 450 full-time positions once it’s completed, today’s ground-breaking of the Côte Gold mine is good news for the Flying Post First Nation and the Mattagami First Nation, for Northern Ontarians, and for the Canadian economy,” Trudeau said.
“As the world continues to manage the impacts of covid-19 and as we safely restart our economy, projects like this one will be vital to helping get Canadians back to work and will continue to signal to international investors that Canada is a good place to do business.”
Côté is located in the northern part of the province, approximately 20 kilometres southwest of Gogama, 130 kilometres southwest of Timmins, and 200 kilometres northwest of Sudbury.
The project, a 70/30 JV between IAMGOLD and SMM, has the potential to produce 460,000 ounces of gold annually at low all-in sustaining costs of approximately $700 per ounce in the first six years of production with an 18-year mine life.
“This ground-breaking symbolizes the construction start of the Côté Gold project, a project which will be a model for modern Canadian mining,” IAMGOLD’s president and CEO Gordon Stothart, said at the ceremony.
