Iamgold Corp’s fourth quarter production for 2011 of gold is down by 20%. The Toronto based company produced 253,000 attributable ounces of gold in the final quarter of last year compared to 315,000 attributable ounces of gold in the last quarter of 2010.
The Canadian company has practically doubled its capital spending in 2012 with hopes to expand its mines. The capex budget in 2011 was $460 million and for 2012 it is $880 million. The expansions of the Essakane gold mine in Burkina Faso and the Rosebel gold mine in Suriname are the primary concerns.
Iamgold Corp also hopes to bring its fully owned Westwood mine into production within a year. The mine is located 80 km west of Val d’Or in Quebec and is likely to help the company reach its overall production target of more than one million ounces of gold by 2013. In 2011 the company produced 972,000 ounces of attributable gold.
The mine in north western Quebec was acquired by Iamgold Corp in 2006 when it took over Cambior Inc. The location of the mine is in a lucrative gold mining district. The development of the gold project is on target and the company hopes to have its first production of gold from the mine in the first quarter of 2013.