IAMGOLD Corp T.IMG

FINANCIAL OR MINING COMPANY

[Luke555]

Another one of my exposes of the bewildered IMG/IAG BOD.

As a long term shareholder, who has spent his entire career in the mining industry working with some of the best mining executives in the business, I’m perturbed with some of the shenanigans going on with the BOD. In my day, these underperforming mining executives would have been shown the door a long time ago.  In effect, The BOD is running a financial institution rather than a mining company. Every decision is disguised as managing the market risk for financial gain not profitability. In the Management Information Circular dated May 4, 2021, under the caption, Summary of Hedge portfolio we have:

1. Currency and Oil prices Risk.
2. Currency Exchange rate Risk.
3. Oil Contracts and Fuel Price Risk.
4. Gold Bullion Edging Risk. (selling our future production, Yikes!!)

All these edging activities (gimmics) are being done to raise cash and support the IMG/IAG strong financial position. They are literally gambling with our money. To add insult to injury, recently, they sold a portfolio of royalty streams for 500,000 dollars and then the buyer turned around and sold it for 700,000. What a joke!  Over the past years, the BOD has never address the problem of high mining costs or the extravagant Head Office salaries and expenses.  In my professional opinion, these executives are embracing an academic/financial approach to management rather than executive mine management. Its management by deception and it’s worked for them for years. What’s real worrisome is that they keep shedding our assets to raise funds to maintain their financial objectives.  
At this stage of their ageing careers, the BOD will do and say anything to protect their self-serving interests. (Greed and Power) In my opinion, over the past year, the unscrupulous leadership of the company pulled out all the stops to achieve one of their key self-serving financial strategies and that was to having the lowest possible share price at the time their share and option allotments are awarded. The end-game is to get the lowest possible exercise price on the undeserving awards.  As we all know, the BOD did nothing to support the falling share price, their financial strategy worked to perfection and guaranteed their financial security.  What a wonderful world we live in! Just look in the Management Information Circular dated May 4, 2021, under the caption, INCENTIVE PLAN AWARDS, page 57. As an investor how would you like to have these Share-based Awards and Option-based Awards and not have to put up any money until you decide to exercise the price?  What’s more disturbing is that these mining executive are being rewarded for sub- performance. With all their outstanding shares and options now at their disposal , the BOD just as to wait for the share price to increase substantially in the upcoming rising gold price environment that we are about to embark and then cash-in their golden parachutes and retire into the sunset. In my opinion, the IMG/IAG BDO represents the worst side of our free enterprise system. They have no desire or fortitude to negotiate any deal with the 1B dollars sitting idle in the bank for years. (Dead Money) Now they get their cake and eat it too!  Something is drastically wrong with this picture and some changes are necessary. A quick fix to solving the problem would be a buyout!  The attraction of the low share price of our undervalued strategic assets and our substantial ore reserves would certainly appeal to a company that’s running low on ore reserves!  All I can say, shareholders be prudent and don’t sell your shares to the edge funds, in due time you will be rewarded but for now “Be patient, Sit tight and be Right!!