Iamgold strikes deal on board changes
Iamgold Corp [IMG-TSX, IAG-NYSE] and shareholder RCF Management LLC have announced a collaboration agreement which allows for several appointments to its board of directors.
The new appointees include Maryse Belanger, David Smith and Ian Ashby, with Belanger being named Chair, effective immediately. In addition, one of the new directors will be appointed to each standing committee of the board.
Belanger is a former President and COO of Atlantic Gold Corp. She is currently a board member of Pure Gold Mining Inc. [PGM-TSXV], Equinox Gold Corp. [EQX-TSXV, EQXGF-OTC] and Sherritt International Inc. [S-TSX].
Smith is a former CFO and Vice-President of Ballard Power Systems Inc. [BLDP-TSX], while Asby served as President Iron Ore for BHP Billiton Ltd. [BHP-NYSE, BHPLF-OTCPK] between 2006 and 2012.
As well, several Iamgold current directors will be stepping down from the board (Richard Hall, Ronald Gagel) for will not sand for re-election (Tim Snider) The new board will recommend one additional director, plus one executive director, once a permanent CEO is appointed.
The CEO search committee will consist of Belanger, Smith Kevin O’Kane.
This agreement closely matches RCF’s requests in its open letter to the board published earlier this month (with the exception that Ian Ashby has replaced Lawrence Haber as RCF’s third board nominee).
RCF is a group of commonly managed private equity funds, established in 1998 with a mining sector specific investment mandate, spanning all hard mineral commodities and geographic regions. RCF recently held a 5.2% stake in Iamgold.
Iamgold is an intermediate gold producer with operations in three regions globally: North and South America and West Africa. The company’s operating mines include Essakane in Burkina Faso, Rosebel in Suriname, and Westwood in Canada.
Iamgold said it remains firmly focused on becoming a leading high-margin gold producer through optimization of its assets and the advancement of its Cote Gold project in Quebec towards commercial production in the second half of 2023.
As part of a refocused strategy, the company has initiated a strategic review process to explore and evaluate potential strategic alternatives for the Rosebel mine, in addition to the ongoing strategic review of the Westwood mine in order to focus on maximizing cash flow from value-generating assets.
The company was targeting 2021 production of between 565,000 and 605,000 ounces of gold. Cote Gold will be the company’s fourth mine. It is expected to produce an average of 367,000 ounces of gold annually over a projected lifespan of 18 years at an average grade of 0.96 g/t.
Life of mine all-in-sustaining costs are estimated at US$771 an ounce, with the initial capital spend forecast at $1.3 billion. Iamgold’s expected go-forward capital obligation (exclusive of sunk costs) is $875 to $925 million for its 70% share of project construction costs.
On Monday, Iamgold shares rose 0.81% or $0.03 to $3.71 on volume of 1.18 million. The shares are trading in a 52-week range of $4.62and $2.75.