jjeerryy wrote: The french article translated and pasted here:
Iamgold reiterates its confidence in Westwood mine
The company relies heavily on the Doyon plant and its other projects in the Rouyn-Noranda region
© Patrick Rodrigue - The Citizen Val d'Or - Amos
Iamgold relies heavily on the ore processing capacity of the Doyon plant, located near the Westwood mine.
Despite the seismic issues it has had to contend with in recent years, and then the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in a drop in production, Iamgold reiterated his confidence in the future of the Westwood mine.
In a technical report published on August 5, the mining company explained that its Preissac infrastructures could advantageously be positioned in a long-term horizon, and this, even with a conservative approach.
"We have taken an approach that reflects the new reality in operational security, with several avenues to improve our baseline scenario," Iamgold CEO Gordon Stothart said in a statement. In addition, we are currently deploying a strategy that could add value to our Fayolle (Mont-Brun) and Rouyn Gold (Granada) projects and, at the same time, increase the value of Westwood by increasing the supply of ore from the Doyon factory. "
Mineral reserves on the decline
The technical report includes an update, dated April 30, 2020, of Westwood's mineral reserves and resources.
As for reserves, that is, immediately mineable gold with an economic value, they fell by 48% to stand at 618,000 ounces at an average grade of 7.1 grams per tonne (g / T Au) of ore . The gold is divided into 599,000 ounces at Westwood and 19,000 ounces at the small open-pit Grand Duc satellite deposit, located 3 km west of Westwood. As of December 31, 2019, we were talking about 1,164,000 ounces of gold at Westwood and 20,000 ounces of gold at Grand Duke. “Our reserves have been impacted by more conservative geotechnical evaluations compared to certain areas located in areas with higher seismic risks,” Iamgold said in his report.
As for the overall resources, that is to say the gold which could be produced with more advanced analyzes, these increased slightly, going from 3,165,000 to 3,328,000 ounces. The grades remain high at 10.2 g / T Au for the measured and indicated resources as well as 8.6 g / T Au for the inferred resources.
Iamgold maintains its goals
From April 1 to June 30, Westwood delivered 20,000 ounces of gold. This is a decrease of 17.7% from the 24,000 ounces of gold produced during the same period in 2019. This decrease is attributable to lower gold grades in the ore as well as the temporary suspension operations, from March 25 to April 15, due to the state of health emergency imposed by the government due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The year had started off with a bang for Westwood, however. In the first six months of 2020, the mine produced 42,000 ounces of gold compared to 39,000 ounces in the first half of 2019. Iamgold has therefore decided not to change its production targets for the year, which thus remain in a range of 85,000 to 100,000 ounces of gold.
Development also continued during the three months of spring, when 1,250 meters were added to the Westwood galleries. Iamgold also completed 5,700 meters of surface drilling and 13,000 meters of underground drilling to increase gold resources at Westwood and Grand Duke.