After a raft of issues during its pandemic-era construction, IAMGOLD has started commercial production at its Côté Gold Mine near Gogama in northeastern Ontario.
The Toronto gold miner reported that monumental achievement on Aug. 2 as crews continue to put various processes and equipment through its paces on the path to reaching close to full production capacity by year’s end.
The open-pit mine is located just off Highway 144, roughly halfway between Sudbury and Timmins and is 25 kilometres southwest of Gogama.
The mine is a joint venture between Toronto’s IAMGOLD and Sumitomo Metal Mining. The open-pit operation deploys autonomous haul trucks and drill rigs.
The first gold pour was March 31.
"I would like to commend our teams at Côté Gold who have come together to achieve another great milestone as we progress and ramp up what we believe will be one of Canada's largest gold mines and a model for modern mining in Canada," said IAMGOLD president-CEO Renaud Adams in a news release.
IAMGOLD defines commercial production is reaching a minimum of 30 consecutive days of operations during which the mill operated at an average of 60 per cent of its nameplate throughput of 36,000 tonnes per day.
Since the gold pour, employees have spent the last four months testing equipment and ramping up all areas of the operation, particularly inside the processing plant. The company reports everything is operating “at or above design levels.”
“This process has required remarkable commitment, ingenuity and teamwork to bring all the systems online together to achieve this milestone,” said Adams.
"With commercial production behind us we continue to focus on improving plant availability towards our goal of Côté exiting the year at 90 per cent of nameplate throughput,” he said.
A brief shutdown is planned for September to check on any usual wear and tear on equipment in the plant to ensure they reach this year-end goal.
Back in 2022, when IAMGOLD was struggling to raise cash to finish Côté, due to a number of pandemic and supply chain cost overruns, the company reached out to its Sumitomo partner for a loan. In exchange, Sumitomo’s interest in the joint venture increased from 30 per cent to 40 per cent. The loan agreement provided a window for IAMGOLD to buy back its 70 per cent ownership stake in the mine over a specified timeline.
That meant IAMGOLD needed to raise US$300 million to repurchase its original interest at Côté. The company said it’s now tied the bow on that transaction.
In May, the company said the equity financing was completed, allowing them to return to the 70 per cent ownership position.
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