After many months of groundwork, drills have begun turning at
Over the past 18 months, the Markham, Ont.-based junior has assembled a dominant land position in the country’s Zaruma-Portovelo mining district, which, since 1897, has produced more than 4.5 million oz. gold and 19 million oz. silver, as well as zinc and copper concentrates.
Iamgold’s program will comprise both surface and underground diamond drilling. The 10-hole, 3,000-metre surface phase, now under way, will test possible extensions of known vein systems, including the Sesmo-Governadora-Salvadora system. The 14-hole, 4,200-metre underground campaign, to begin in late August, will test downdip extensions of known pay shoots in the Cristina-Jane and Cantabria-Agua Dulce-Jorupe vein systems.
Iamgold has digitized more than 450 longitudinal assay sections and plans of underground workings excavated by the American company SADCO between 1897 and 1950.
The exploration play is taking Iamgold far from its lucrative West African assets. The company’s biggest generator of cash flow is its 38% interest in SEMOS, owner of the Sadiola open-pit gold mine in Mali, West Africa.
The company also holds a 50% stake in SADEX, which is building a heap-leach mine to exploit the nearby Yatela and Alamoutala deposits, where production is to begin in mid-2001.
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