Page 59 By Gregory Reynolds Uncertainty in the world gold mar kets has led IAMGOLD Corporation to delay a 15 billion project planned for the Gogama area just south of the City of T immins Huge benefts from the project were expected to fow from the Cote Gold Project to Aboriginals in the area and the cities of T immins and Sudbury On Aug 12 the company announced that our decision to commit to future expansion and developmen t proj ects will be conditional on a number of factors W e will not proceed with the Sadiola sulphide project without both a partner and a gold price envi ronment necessary to generate strong project returns The Cote Gold Project an attractive asset for our longer term production profle is expected to obtain required mining permit s by the end of 2014 and depending on the outcome of the prefeasibility study at the end of 2013 complete the feasibility study by mid2015 A decision to proceed will depend on project economics based on the pro jected gold price While the expected rate of return for the Niobec expansion is attractive and the feasibility study will be completed this year this project will remain on hold indefnitely until we have a part ner to jointly fund the project Cote was purchased in June 2012 for 608 million from T relawney Mining and Exploration Inc Although the feasibility study was in the future the company put a rough estimat e on the cost of developing Cote IAMGOLD Corporation is a midtier gold producer with six operating gold mines including current joint ven tures on three continents and one of the world s top three niobium mines A solid base of strategic assets in Canada South America and Africa is complimented by developm ent and exploration projects and continued as sessment of accretive acquisition op portunities IAMGOLD is in a strong fnancial position with extensive man agement and operational expertise On Sept 15 the company reported that the Societe dExploration des Mines dOr de Y atela SA a joint venture between IAMGOLD 40 AngloGold Ashanti 40 and the government of Mali 20 has de cided to suspend mining excavation activities at the Y atela Mine in Mali ef fective Sept 30 2013 This deci sion refects a combination of factors including miner safety in the pit the drop in the spot price of gold and the reduction in proft mar gin Although a process of gradual dismantling of the site is planned for Sept 30 2013 processing of heap leach pads and ore already mined will continue until the end of 2016 since the end of the min ing acti vities does not yet mean the end of the mine The Y atela mine is situated over 600 kilometres northwest of the Malian capital of Bamako and about 25 kilo metres north of the Sadiola mine On Aug 12 the company also an nounced that at the end of the second quarter it had attributable gold pro duction of 224000 ounces including 10000 precommercial ounces from W estwood attributable sales were 201000 ounces T otal cash costs for all gold mines2 were 787 an ounce below the bot tom of the guidance range W ith 55 of cost reduction tar get achieved and on track to reaching 100 million tar get by end of 2013 we are lowering T otal cash costs 2013 guidance for all gold mines to 790840 an ounce from 850925 an ounce Allin sustaining costs 2013 guid ance for all gold mines2 to 1150 1250 an ounce from 12001300 an ounce Production guidance of 875000 to 950000 ounces for all gold mines maintained for 2013 W estwood ramping up and on track to meeting 130000150000 ounce production tar get for 2013 Adjusted net earnings attributable to equity holders were 302 million or 008 per share Reported net losses attributable to equity holders were 284 million or 008 a share inclusive of 393 mil lion in impairment char ges related to marketable securities and equity ac counted investments at market val ue The rigorous implementation of our cost cutting program with 55 of our tar get achi eved to date supports our decision to lower cost guidance to 790840 from 850925 said Steve Letwin president and CEO W e are very encouraged by these re sults and by the diligence with which weve seen employees at our sites working to deliver on this initiative Im confdent that our cost cutting ef forts in the second half of the year will continue to ef fect sustainable re ductions to our cost structure Overall our operations are perform ing within expectations continued Mr Letwin W estwood is ramping up and we are on track to meeting our production guidance At the same time we are reviewing our mine plans in light of lower gold prices Our most important priorities continue to be cost reductio n pres ervation of liquidity and disciplined capital allocation Optimizing our ex isting operations and deferring future expansion and development projects are critical to maintaining strong cash fow IAMGOLD to delay a 15 billion project planned for the Gogama area