Initial Drilling Results Testing the Underground Mining Potential at Its Saramacca Project, Surinam
NEWS RELEASE
TSX:
IMG
NYSE:
IAG
IAMGOLD
ANNOUNCES
INITIAL DRILLING RESULTS
TESTING
THE
UNDERGROUND MINING POTENTIAL AT
ITS
SARAMACCA PROJECT, SURINAM
E
Toronto, Ontario,
August
7
,
201
9
–
IAMGOLD Corporation
(“IAMGOLD” or the “Company”) today
announced
results from
an
exploration drilling program
completed
on the
Saramacca
Joint Venture
P
roject
(the “Saramacca Project”)
,
located
25
k
ilometres
south
west
of
its
Rosebel
operation
and
125
k
ilometres
south
of
Paramaribo
,
Suriname
.
The
Saramacca
Project is a
70:30
joint venture between
IAMGOLD’s
Rosebel Gold Mines
N.V.
(“
RGM
”
)
and
the
Government of Suriname
.
The
C
ompany is reporting assay results from
fifteen
diamond drill holes
totaling
9,843
meters
completed to
test
the main fault corridor
as part of its 201
8
–
2019
exploration drilling
program
to
evaluat
e
the
underground resource potential
of the Saramacca deposit
.
Along with these results, the Co
mpany
is
highlighting
assay results
from seven diamond drill holes totaling 2,233 metres which were completed as
part of previous
drilling campaign
s
to support various technical studies relating to the Saramacca
development. These
latter
drill holes
pierce
below the
current
Mineral R
eserve
d
esign
pit
and are
therefore
considered
relevant to the
evaluation of potential
underground
mineral resources
.
T
he Company is also reporting
results from
twelve
diamond and rev
e
rse circulation drill holes
totaling
2,
061
meters
which
intersected
near surface mineralization
on
a
secondary mineralized corridor
to the
northwest along strike of the Saram
a
cca deposit
. This area is being considered as a
potential
location for
a portal for underground access
.
The assay results
are provided in
Tables 1
to 3
below and include the following highlights
(
drill hole
long
itudinal
section
s
are
attached to this news release
):
Saramacca Underground
P
otential
:
Drill hole
SMD
-
0067
:
21.0
metres grading
6.
05
g/t Au
includes
:
10.5
metres grading
9.72
g/t Au
Drill hole
SMD
-
0068
:
19.5
metres grading 5.
62
g/t Au
Drill hole
SMD
-
0069
:
20.0
metres grading
5.77
g/t Au
includes
:
4.5
metres grading
10.86
g/t Au
Drill hole
SMD
-
0071B
:
22.7
metres
grading
8.54
g/t Au
includes
:
9.0 metres grading 15.23
g/t Au
Drill hole
SMRC
-
0008
:
24.0
metres
grading 9.67
g/t Au
includes: 6.0 metres grading 26.41 g/t Au
Saramacca
Secondary Structure:
Drill hole SM
RC
-
00
08
:
6
.0 metres grading
26.41
g/t Au
and
6.0 metres grading
11.46
g/t Au
Drill hole SMD
-
00
82
:
4
.5 metres grading
19.99
g/t Au
Drill hole SMD
-
00
90A
:
6.0
metres grading
10.19
g/t Au
Craig MacDougall, Senior Vice President, Exploration for IAMGOLD, stated:
“
T
he initial results from
the
drilling program
to evaluate
the
potential
for
underground resources
are very encouraging and justify
additional diamond drilling to delineate
mineral resources
which could be extracted by underground mining
methods
.
The
drilling
results
along strike
of the Saramacca deposit
also continue to highlight the
exploration potential to further expand the mineral resources at and along the Saramacca mi
neralized
trend.
”
The Saramacca
Project
(on a 100% basis),
based on an open pit mining scenario
,
hosts estimated
Proven
and Probable Mineral Reserves totaling
1.5
million ounces of contained
g
old
and Measured and Indicated
Mineral Resources (inclusive of Reserves) totaling 1.8 million ounces of contained gold, and Inferred
p
age
2
of
7
Mineral Resources
totaling 0.3 million ounces of contained gold
(see news releases dated September 23,
2018 and February 19, 20
19). The Saramacca underground mining potential drilling program focused on
confirming continuity of mineralization below the current Mineral Reserve
design
pit and
to
advance the
delineation of potential underground mineral resources which could enhance
the future economic upside of
the project and the RGM operation.
In addition, a
secondary mineralization corridor was also discovered
approximately
300 meters
to the n
orth
w
est
of the design
pit, in an area considered favorable for a potential
portal instal
lation due to a relatively thin saprolitic profile.
201
8
–
201
9
Exploration Program
The 201
8
–
2019 underground potential exploration drilling program was designed to test
whether
high
grade
gold
mineralization’s
intersected
within
or
in the
immediate proximity of
the
current
Saramacca
pit
design extends at depth.
The drilling program has confirmed the presence of a wide corridor of mineralization with approximate
dimensions of 2
0
0
met
r
es
(strike), 15
met
r
es
(width) and 200
met
r
es
(depth)
located below the reserve
design
pit
(see Table 1
& 2
).
The
discovery of a
secondary mineralized corridor
in an area being
considered for the location of a portal also demonstrates the potential for further resource expansion
(see
Table 3).
This
secondary
zone has been intersected in drilling for
300 meters
along
strike,
over a
variable
width of
1 to
10
meters
(width),
extend
ing
to a depth of
200 meters (depth)
,
and
remains open
in all
directions.
The main mineralization corridor was targeted using drill
hole
spacing of approximately 70 met
r
es,
although the actual spacing var
ies
from 15 met
re
s to 100 met
re
s
(see
Figure 1:
long
itudinal
section below).
The gold mineralization
is
generally
confined
within the main fault area, which is continuous from surface
to a depth of
more than 500
met
r
es vertically, including about 400
m
et
r
es
into hard rock (
below
the
Saprolitic profile).
T
he secondary corridor
has been
drilled with a spacing varying from 50 to 100 meters
(see Figure 2)
. The
geometry, orientation and continuity
of the secondary corridor
is still under evaluation
,
but appears to follow the same
n
orth
w
est
trend as the main
deposit
,
with a sub
-
vertical dip.
The Saramacca
main
deposit
has
been delineated for at least
two kilomet
res
along strike
(
as constrained
within the
current resource
pit
design
),
and
only a 300
meters
strike length
ha
s
been investigat
ed
at depth
for
potential
underground
resources
.
Next Steps
Based on
the
encouraging
results,
the Company
will
continue
a
surface
delineation
drilling
program
in
2019
to better
defin
e
the Saramacca
deposit
at depth in an effort to increase the geological model
definition and
evaluate the potential for
underground mining
at Saramacca
.
The Company will use the
results of the drilling programs to support a concept study to demonstrate the economic
viability of a
potential underground development.
Technical Information and Quality Control Notes
The drilling results contained in this news release have been prepared in accordance with National
Instrument 43
-
101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Proj
ects.
The "Qualified Person" responsible for the supervision of the preparation, verification and review of the
technical information in this release is
Raphael Dutaut
, P.
Geo
.
,
Manager Resources Geology
for
IAMGOLD
. He is considered a "Qualified
Person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43
-
101 with
respect to the technical information being reported on
and is
responsible for the planning, supervision and
execution of
the diamond drilling program.
The technical information has been included h
erein with the
consent and prior review of the above noted Qualified Person.
The information in this news release was reviewed and approved by Craig MacDougall, P.Geo., Senior
Vice President, Exploration for IAMGOLD. Mr. MacDougall is a Qualified Person
as defined by National
Instrument 43
-
101.
The sampling of, and assay data from,
the
drill core is monitored through the implementation of a quality
assurance
-
quality control (QA
-
QC) program designed to follow industry best practice. Drill core
(NQ size
within mineralized envelop
) s
amples are selected by
the
RGM
-
IAMGOLD
geologists and sawn in half with
a diamond saw at the project site. Half of the core is retained at the site for reference purposes
. Sample
intervals may vary from
6
0
centimeters
to
thee m
et
r
es, with the vast majority being
one and a half metre
s
in length depending on the geological observations.
Samples were
stored in sealed plastic bags and
p
age
3
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7
packed into
fiber
backs onto a pallet where they were shrink wrapped for transport.
A formal chain
-
of
-
custody procedure
was
adopted for security of samples until their delivery at the laboratory.
The internal
RGM
l
aboratory (the
“I
nternal
L
aboratory
”
) was used
to
complete the
assay analyses.
The
Internal
L
aboratory (certification ISO/IEC 17025:2005) completed the following: Samples are coarse
crushed to 75% passing 2.35 mm screen (8 mesh screen), riffle split (700 gram) and (mild steel) to 95%
passing 88µm (170 mes
h). Cleaner sand is included. Samples were analyzed using a standard 30 gram
fire assay (30 g aliquot) with an Atomic Absorption (AA) finish. For samples that returned assay values
over 0.3 grams per tonne (g/t), a second cut is taken from the original
pulp and fire assayed a second time.
IAMGOLD inserts blanks and certified reference standards in the sample sequence for quality control.
External check
s
are
performed
at
Filab Suriname Laboratory
(“Filab
”), which is an ALS Limited
representative in Suriname.
Filab
is a commercial certified laboratory (
ISO 9001:
2015)
which is
using
a
very similar procedure comprising the following:
Samples are coarse crushed to 75% passing 2.35 mm
screen (8 mesh screen), riffle split (700 gram) and pulverize to 85% passing 88µm (170 mesh).
Cleaner
sa
nd included. Samples were analyzed using a stand
ard 30 gram fire assay (30 g aliquot) with an Atomic
Absorption (AA) finish.
For samples that return assay values over 3.0 gram
s per tonne (g/t), another cut
was
taken from the original pulp and fire assayed with a gravimetric finish
was performed
.
IAMGOLD
inserts blanks and certified reference standards in the sampl
e sequence for quality control. External QA
-
QC checks
done since two years
confirmed the reliability of
the Internal Laboratory results
, although the
latest assays results were not yet sent
for
external
checks
.
Forward Looking Statement
This news release contains forward
-
looking statements. All statements, other than of historical fact, that address
activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may
occur in the future
(including, without limitation, statements regarding expected, estimated or planned gold production, cash costs, margin
expansion, capital expenditures and exploration expenditures and statements regarding the estimation of mineral
reso
urces, exploration results, potential mineralization, potential mineral resources and mineral reserves) are forward
-
looking statements. Forward
-
looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words “will”, “should”,
“continue”, “expect”, “antic
ipate”, “estimate”, “believe”, “intend”,
“to earn”, “to have’,
“plan” or “project” or the negative of
these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward
-
looking statements are subject to
a number of risks and uncertainties, m
any of which are beyond the Company’s ability to control or predict, that may
cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward
-
looking
statements.
Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ
materially from current expectations include,
among other things, without limitation, failure to meet expected, estimated or planned gold production, cash costs,
margin expansion, capital expenditures and exploration expenditures and failure to establish e
stimated mineral
resources, the possibility that future exploration results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations,
changes in world gold markets and other risks disclosed in IAMGOLD’s most recent Form 40
-
F/Annual Information
Form on file w
ith the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian provincial securities
regulatory authorities. Any forward
-
looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as
may be required by applicable securities laws, t
he Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward
-
looking statement.
About IAMGOLD
IAMGOLD (
www.iamgold.com
) is a mid
-
tier mining company with four operating gold mines on three
continents. A solid base of strategic assets in North and South America and West Africa is complemented
by development and exploration projects and continued assessment of accretive acq
uisition opportunities.
IAMGOLD is in a strong financial position with extensive management and operational expertise.
For further information please contact
:
Indi Gopinathan
,
Investor Relation
s
Lead
, IAMGOLD Corporation
Tel: (416) 360
-
4743 Mobile: (416) 388
-
6883
Martin Dumont
, Senior Analyst Investor Relations, IAMGOLD Corporation
Tel: (416) 933
-
5783
Mobile: (647) 967
-
9942
Toll
-
free: 1
-
888
-
464
-
9999
Please note:
This entire news release may be accessed via fax, e
-
mail, IAMGOLD's website at www.iamgold.com and through Newsfile’s website
at
www.newsfilecorp.com
. All material information on IAMGOLD can be found at
www.sedar.com
or at
www.sec.gov
.
Si vous désirez obtenir la version française de ce communiqué, veuillez consulter le
http://www.iamgold.com/French/accueil/default.aspx
.
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Table 1 Saramacca Underground Mining Project Drilling Results
-
2018
-
2019 Drilling
P
rogram
Hole No.
UTM WGS84
Zone 21N
AZ
DIP
EOH
From
To
Core
Interval
(1)
Au
(2)
Easting
Northing
Elevation
(°)
(°)
(m)
(m)
(m)
(m)
(g/t)
SMD
-
0066A
678,519
544,724
209
213
-
55
651
540.0
559.5
19.5
3.08
Including (3)
552.0
558.0
6.0
4.82
SMD
-
0067
678,480
544,752
207
213
-
55
600
514.5
535.5
21.0
6.05
Including (3)
525.0
535.5
10.5
9.72
SMD
-
0068
678,519
544,636
215
211
-
55
552
465.0
484.5
19.5
5.62
SMD
-
0069
678,552
544,681
210
213
-
55
600
532.5
552.5
20.0
5.77
Including (3)
546.0
550.5
4.5
10.86
SMD
-
0070B
678,601
544,791
176
212
-
55
801
636.5
639.5
3.0
2.70
SMD
-
0071B
678,462
544,767
204
212
-
57
597
525.0
547.7
22.7
8.54
Including (3)
531.0
540.0
9.0
15.23
SMD
-
0072
678,578
544,590
209
212
-
52
501
470.0
472.9
2.9
2.39
SMD
-
0075
678,420
544,758
206
212
-
55
552
no significant
results
SMD
-
0078
678,616
544,710
194
212
-
57
702
no significant
results
SMD
-
0080B
678,674
544,860
165
212
-
60
954
727.5
730.5
3.0
3.02
SMD
-
0083
A
678,619
544,708
194
217
-
55
750
619.0
622.0
3.0
3.32
SMD
-
0085
678,543
544,848
171
215
-
53
762
no significant
results
SMD
-
0086
678,477
544,888
167
204
-
58
744
no significant
results
SMD
-
0088
678,521
544,720
209
213
-
52
576
531
.0
547.5
16.5
2.05
SMD
-
0089A
678,540
544,618
213
213
-
52
501
442.5
462.0
19.5
3.12
Including (3)
460.5
462.0
1.5
15.50
Table 2 Saramacca Underground Mining Project Drilling Results
-
2017
-
2018 Drilling
P
rogram
Hole No.
UTM WGS84 Zone 21N
AZ
DIP
EOH
From
To
Core
Interval
(1)
Au
(2)
Easting
Northing
Elevation
(°)
(°)
(m)
(m)
(m)
(m)
(g/t)
SMD
-
0004
678,413
544,661
223
215
-
55
450
349.5
358.0
8.5
11.07
SMD
-
0005
678,450
544,625
225
215
-
51
411
366.5
395.0
28.5
5.96
Including (3)
383.0
392.0
9.0
8.38
SMD
-
0030
678,408
544,697
220
215
-
55
453
396.0
406.5
10.5
4.09
SMD
-
0031
678,526
544,562
213
215
-
50
402
351.0
360.0
9.0
3.06
SMDD17
-
213
678,478
544,616
219
215
-
50
432
360.5
393.3
32.8
4.72
Including (3)
371.0
381.5
10.5
7.47
SMDD17
-
227
678,490
544,708
215
215
-
50
483
460.5
481.0
20.5
3.25
Including (3)
468.0
472.0
4.0
6.29
SMDD17
-
255
678,509
544,567
215
215
-
50
402
348.5
362.5
14.0
17.77
Including (3)
348.5
350.0
1.5
147.60
p
age
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Table 3 Saramacca Underground Mining Project Drilling Results
–
Secondary
Mineralized
Z
one
Hole No.
UTM WGS84 Zone 21N
AZ
DIP
EOH
From
To
Core
Interval
(1)
Au
(2)
Easting
Northing
Elevation
(°)
(°)
(m)
(m)
(m)
(m)
(g/t)
SMD
-
0079
678,123
545,259
55
215
-
50
150
113.2
114.2
1
.0
23.36
SMD
-
0081
677,998
545,249
57
215
-
51
150
79.5
84.0
4.5
7.85
SMD
-
0082
678,011
545,448
56
35
-
40
150
109.5
114
.0
4.5
19.99
Including (3)
109.5
112.5
3.0
27.77
SMD
-
0090A
677,885
545,459
90
35
-
50
165
231
.0
237.0
6
.0
10.19
Including (3)
231.0
235.5
4.5
12.04
SMD
-
0091
677,885
545,459
90
35
-
50
165
60.0
67.5
7.5
2.54
SMD
-
0092
677,945
545,211
62
35
-
52
249
181.5
183.0
1.5
111.40
SMD
-
0093
678,023
545,150
88
35
-
50
228
178.3
179.3
1
.0
58.21
SMRC
-
0016
678,035
545,415
53
215
-
50
150
100
.0
110
.0
10
.0
3.09
SMRC
-
0008
678,100
545310
55
213
-
48
150
72
.0
96
.0
24
.0
9.67
Including (3)
72
.0
78
.0
6
.0
11.46
90
.0
96
.0
6
.0
26.41
SMRC
-
0023
677,994
545,496
62
215
-
50
150
92.0
96.0
4.0
5.10
Including (3)
92.0
94.0
2.0
9.33
SMRC
-
0025
678,147
545,216
78
215
-
50
150
58
.0
60
.0
2
.0
3.34
SMD
D
18
-
276
677,992
545,194
68
35
-
49
204
133.5
135
.0
1.5
9.76
Notes:
1.
E
stimate
d
true
widths
are
approx
imately
6
5
to 9
0
% of the Core Interval.
2.
Drill hole intercepts are calculated with a
lower cut
-
off grade of 2.0 g/t Au
.
3.
Assay intervals are reported uncut, but higher grade sub intervals are shown.
4.
Reverse Circulation
(RC)
hole
s
from 2016 campaign.
p
age
6
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7
Figure 1
:
Saramacca
–
Underground potential
drill hole
long section
and highlighted
2018
-
2019
assay results
for the main Fault
corridor
.
p
age
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7
Figure
2
: Saramacca
–
Underground potential
drill hole
long section
and highlighted
2018
-
2019
assay results
for secondary
mineralized corridor
.