August 9, 2024 (Globalinvestorideas.com Newswire) Globalinvestorideas.com, a go-to platform for big investing ideas, including mining stocks reports on trading for IAMGOLD Corporation (NYSE: IAG) (TSX: IMG, an intermediate gold producer and developer based in Canada with two operating mines: Essakane (Burkina Faso) and Westwood (Canada). The Company also owns Côté Gold (Canada), a large-scale, long-life mine that has commenced production March 31, 2024 (together referred to as continuing operations). The Company has an established portfolio of early stage and advanced exploration projects within highly prospective mining districts in Canada.)
The stock is trading up following reporting its financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024. The stock is currently trading at $5.85, up 0.77, gaining 15.16%, making it one of the top percentage gainers on the TSX.
“We are very proud of our achievements during the first half of the year at IAMGOLD,” said Renaud Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer of IAMGOLD. “Essakane and Westwood teams have continued to deliver strong operational results, which has positioned the company to beat our production and cost guidance targets set at the beginning of the year. These achievements have been made while delivering our commitment to health and safety, and I want to commend the Essakane team, which recently surpassed a record health and safety milestone of 5 million hours worked without a recordable safety incident.”
“At Côté Gold, last week we announced the mine had reached commercial production, a significant achievement only four months after pouring our initial gold bar on March 31 of this year. We are very impressed with the progress to date and are very positive on what the milestones achieved so far mean for the future of the project. Early in the second quarter, our focus was on stress testing the capability of the plant to handle near nameplate throughput rates. The primary components of the plant responded well, proving the installed capacity of the major equipment and processing circuits to handle design rates. The operating teams have made significant strides over the last six weeks on increasing the availability of the plant, with a full production at nameplate of 36,000 tonnes milled achieved on August 1st. During the ramp up exercise, the company has identified key improvements and optimizations needed in the crushing and screening circuits of the dry side, which will be implemented in September in support of the goal of reaching the 90% throughput rate exiting this year.”
“The financial position of the company continues to improve, with over $915 million in total liquidity and increased production guidance this year in a strong gold price environment. With commercial production at Côté behind us and our financing completed in May, IAMGOLD is well funded to buy back the 10% interest in the mine in November – in order to increase our ownership to 70% of what we believe to be among the top gold mines in Canada.”
HIGHLIGHTS:
Operating and Financial
Attributable gold production was 166,000 ounces in the second quarter and 317,000 ounces year-to-date (“YTD”), driven by strong performance at Essakane and Westwood, as well as the first quarter of production at Côté Gold.
Côté Gold reached commercial production on August 2, 2024. During the month of July, the operation processed over 620,000 tonnes and on August 1, 2024, the plant achieved a record daily high throughput rate of 36,000 tonnes per day. The project continues to be well positioned to achieve the goal of 90% throughput by the end of the year.
Production guidance at Essakane and Westwood has been increased to 495,000 to 540,000 ounces, up from the previous guidance range of 430,000 to 490,000 ounces.
Côté Gold production this year is expected to be on the lower end of the guidance range of 130,000 to 175,000 ounces on a 60.3% basis (220,000 to 290,000 ounces at 100%) as improvements to mill availability are made during the ramp-up of operations.
The cash cost1 guidance range, excluding Côté Gold, is revised downwards from $1,280 to $1,400 per ounce sold to $1,175 to $1,275 per ounce sold and all-in-sustaining-cost1 (“AISC”) guidance range is also revised downwards from $1,780 to $1,940 per ounce sold to $1,700 to $1,825 per ounce sold.
For Côté Gold, the company continues to expect that as Côté exits the year at 90% throughput, cash costs at that time will be in the range of approximately $700 to $800 per ounce sold and AISC of $1,100 to $1,200 per ounce.
Revenues were $385.3 million from sales of 167,000 ounces at an average realized gold price1 of $2,294 per ounce and $724.2 million YTD from sales of 330,000 ounces at an average realized gold price of $2,187 per ounce.
Essakane and Westwood cost of sales per ounce sold was $1,099 ($1,077 YTD), cash cost1 per ounce sold was $1,094 ($1,073 YTD) and AISC per ounce sold was $1,617 ($1,553 YTD).
Côté Gold cost of sales and cash cost1 per ounce sold, net of capitalized operating costs, was $839 and $836 per ounce sold, respectively.
Net earnings and adjusted net earnings per share attributable to equity holders1 of $0.16 and $0.16 for the second quarter, respectively; YTD net earnings and adjusted net earnings per share attributable to equity holders1 of $0.27 and $0.27, respectively.
Net cash from operating activities was $160.1 million for the second quarter and $237.2 million YTD. Net cash from operating activities, before movements in working capital and non-current ore stockpiles1, was $169.2 million for the second quarter and $312.0 million YTD.
Earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”)1 was $189.9 million during the second quarter ($344.0 million YTD) and adjusted EBITDA1 was $191.1 million during the second quarter ($343.6 million YTD).
Mine-site free cash flow1, excluding Côté Gold, was $140.0 million for the second quarter and $186.2 million YTD.
The Company has available liquidity1 of $915.7 million, mainly comprised of cash and cash equivalents of $511.4 million and the available balance of the secured revolving credit facility (“Credit Facility”) of $403.3 million as at June 30, 2024.
In health and safety, for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, the Company reported a TRIFR (total recordable injuries frequency rate) of 0.60, an improved trend since last year.
Corporate
On May 24, 2024, the Company announced the closing of a “bought deal” equity financing of 72.0 million common shares of the Company at a price of $4.17 per common share for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $300.2 million ($287.5 million net of fees and transaction costs). The Company intends to use the proceeds towards the repurchase of the 9.7% interest from Sumitomo on November 30, 2024, which was transferred to Sumitomo in 2023 as part of the Joint Venture Funding and Amending Agreement. IAMGOLD’s ownership interest in the Côté Gold Mine following the repurchase would then return to 70%. See “Côté Gold”.
On April 4, 2024, the Company announced that it entered into a gold prepayment arrangement and a partial amendment to one of its existing gold prepayment arrangements. The net result of these arrangements was the effective transition of the cash impact of the current gold delivery obligations out of the second quarter of 2024 into the same period in the following year, thereby increasing cashflow in the second quarter 2024 by approximately $74.1 million. See “Liquidity and Capital Resources”.
On July 9, 2024, the Company finalized an insurance claim of $27.3 million relating to the property and business interruption loss arising from the October 30, 2020, seismic event in the Westwood mine. The proceeds are expected to be received in the third quarter of 2024.
Recent news
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/iamgold-reports-second-quarter-2024-225500131.html
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