Wednesday, 24th May 2006 (2789 views)

Iamgold says it will be spending almost $30 million on exploration projects this year as it looks to ramp up its gold offerings.

The miner says it will be expanding mines in Ecuador, where it will work on the Quimsacocha gold-copper-silver project, as well as holdings in West Africa.

The Quimsacocha project is expected to take up to $20 million in expenditure as the firm looks for more profitable production areas, while $10 million has been earmarked for the African project.

A pre-feasibility study on the Quimsacocha project is expected next year, with full commercial prosecution scheduled for 2009.

CEO Joseph Conway told CP: "We have aggressive exploration on the greenfield side as well as on the brownfield side, so I think we’re going to see some good results particularly out of Quimsacocha this year.

"We have a fairly impressive exploration budget and a commitment to this project," he added.

Iamgold reported record net earnings for the first quarter of 2006 earlier this month, with $19.9 million or $0.13 per share – well up on the $7.7 million accrued in the first quarter of 2005.

 

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