Still buoyed by the performance of the Sadiola Hill mine in western Mali,
Sadiola, in which Iamgold and
During the same quarter, the mine sold 140,802 oz. gold, realizing a price of US$283 per oz., about US$12 better than the average London fix price for the quarter.
For the six months ended June 30, Iamgold showed a profit of US$6.2 million on revenue of US$38.2 million. In the first half of 2000, profits were US$7.8 million and revenue, US$34.1 million. Gold sales, and consequently revenue, were higher in 2000, though production and realized prices were lower. Total cash costs over the first six months averaged US$143 per oz., up from US$123 in the comparable period of 2000, and income taxes also kicked in, which shaved profit margins.
The government of Mali owns 18% of Sadiola, and International Finance Corp. owns 6%.
Sadiola did not meet production budgets during the first half of the year, partly because the mill was turned over to plant-scale metallurgical testing of the mine’s sulphidic saprolite ores, which are being readied for production. A feasibility study on production from the ores was approved in the quarter, and bringing the new ores on-stream will require a US$13.7-million investment to add a pre-aeration circuit and oxygen-enriched cyanide leach to the mill flowsheet. The modifications should bring recoveries from sulphidic saprolite material to around 79%, compared with the 60% recovery budgeted for the material in the original feasibility study.
The capital investment has an internal rate of return of 80%. Iamgold expects the modifications to be ready by the beginning of 2002. Further changes to the mill circuit are on the drawing board, including cyclone separation, which would allow coarser gold to be treated in the modified circuit and finer gold to go through the old circuit without pre-aeration, and gravity or flotation circuits for the coarser material. Both are at the design stage. Feasibility studies on these modifications should be ready by October.
AngloGold and Iamgold’s Yatela mine, just north of Sadiola, poured its first gold in early May and, by the end of the quarter, had produced 21,182 oz. gold. The government has a 20% interest.
Two drills are being used to explore Sadiola’s sulphide resource, with a budget of US$1 million for 8,000 metres of drilling. Further exploration on “satellite” oxide zones in the Farabakouta area is outlining mineralization as well.
Be the first to comment on "Iamgold profitable in second quarter"