Mining in Quebec

With the acquisition of Cambior in 2006, IAMGOLD moved into Quebec’s popular Val D’Or/ Rouyn-Noranda neighbourhood, one of the most prolific mining areas in Canada. The Doyon Division (which includes Doyon Gold Mine and the Mouska Gold Mine) and the Westwood Project became part of the IAMGOLD story as the company transitioned into a full-scale operator.

Signs with familiar names like Agnico- Eagle and Osisko were all around IAMGOLD’s properties but regardless of these established competitors, IAMGOLD made its presence known. The Company has recently announced plans to invest more than $83 million into the Westwood Development Project in 2009. In June IAMGOLD announced that Westwood increased its inferred resources from 3,154,000 ozs at 8.7 g/t Au to 3,431,000 ozs at 11.4 g/t Au, representing a 31% in grade, and 9% increase in inferred resources.

The Westwood project is located 1.8 km east of the Doyon Gold Mine in the Bousquet Township, about 40 km east of Rouyn-Noranda and 80 km west of Val D’Or. The project covers 1,925 ha and consists of 120 titles, one mining lease, one surface lease and three tailings leases. The project is only 420 km northeast of Montreal and is accessible by the Trans Canada highway and a secondary road leading to Mont-Brun and Aiguebelle Provincial Park. From the first intersection on this road (1 km), the Doyon Mine paved road is followed over 4 km to access the property.

What makes the Westwood project even more appealing, aside from its inferred resource of 3.4 million oz of gold, is that it will utilize the 3,500 MTPA mill and water and electrical power supply from the adjacent Doyon Gold Mine. There is also an active railway line less than 10 km south of the mine. As the Doyon Gold Mine winds down its production, IAMGOLD is in the enviable position of moving many of Doyon’s skilled and experienced employees to Westwood transferring knowledge and operational understanding to the development of the project.

Eric Tremblay, Project Manager for Westwood says “it is our people that make this project so exciting and we are pleased to have many former Doyon and Mouska employees join Westwood. It is their dedication to innovation that has allowed us to accelerate this project. We built the head frame in record time, just under one year. This was accomplished through an innovative approach to simultaneously building the head frame over the raise boring machine. To my knowledge this is the first time this has been done and it is the innovation and teamwork from our people that has made this happen.”

As Mr. Tremblay says there have been many firsts at Westwood and one of the first signs of this came in the construction of the 85-m-high head frame; the tallest structure of its kind in Quebec. IAMGOLD, along with Micon and JS Redpath, boasts that in March, they completed the longest directional drilling hole in the world which was 2.43 meters in diameter and 837 meters long .

The Westwood Project is significant for IAMGOLD as it is one of the first development projects that the Company will bring into operation.

As Gordon Stothart, IAMGOLD’s Chief Operating Officer says: “A lot of thought has gone into the planning and design of Westwood and we have repeatedly asked ourselves how can we improve every aspect of the project?”

One of the first things the Company’s design team focused on was using the Westwood tailing and rock in cover systems to control an acid rock drainage problem at its adjacent Doyon Mine. The Doyon Mine began in the 1970s before acid rock drainage problems were properly understood and appropriate environmental protection systems developed.

Denis Miville-Deschenes, Senior Vice President Project Development explains, “Although a costly water collection and treatment system has been installed, our innovative system using waste material from Westwood will further reduce harm. The net result will be continued operations at Doyon without expanding the disturbance footprint to accommodate additional tailings and waste rock storage.”

While much attention has been given to handling existing situations on the IAMGOLD properties, an even greater amount has been devoted to the production of the Westwood mine itself.

Mr. Miville-Deschenes says that the preparations for mining at the Westwood site are going as planned, including a 2,000 m exploration shaft and stopes that required a paste backfill combined with the use of rock-fill in order to maintain stability and low dilution. Basic rock mechanics evaluations were performed using data from the Doyon mine in the same environment. A further rock mechanic campaign is also underway to help optimize stope dimensions, sequencing and position of underground infrastructures.

The foundation of the Westwood project revolves around the shaft, hoists and head frame where the Company spent $4.4 million on the raise boring for the shaft and ramp development, $20 million on three hoists, and $4.9 million on site preparation and head frame construction. The remainder of the Company’s $38.1 million in expenditures in 2008 related to 68,000 m of drilling. From the 68,000 m of drilling, 22,000 m tested within the known resources and the remaining 46,000 m were exploration holes both from surface and from underground exploration drift (at a depth of 900 m).

This year, a further 73,500 m will be completed of which 41,200 m will contribute to upgrading existing inferred resources while the remaining 32,300 m will systematically test the highest priority exploration target areas.

And while on that “highest” note, Project Manager Eric Tremblay once again describes the area’s tallest structure by saying: “The head frame at our Westwood project can be seen for miles because it’s 85 m high and we will be placing our logo on top. You might even see a Christmas tree upon the head frame as the season draws closer.”

Some of the other highlights of the accelerated construction schedule have been the completion of the exploration shaft raise bore in March and completion of 1,686 m of ramp access from surface. An updated scoping study will be completed in Q4 of this year.

When the mine begins production in 2013, Westwood is expected to produce 2,200 t/d obtaining 200,000 ounces or 800,000 t/y in order to reach profitability. The mine start-up should take four years and it should be in production for 15 years based on currently identified resources. To achieve the production target, the mine will operate two 10-hour shifts, 7 days a week.

From the beginning, the ore will be sent by truck to the Doyon mill to be crushed and ground. Ore processing will be carried out at the existing Doyon carbon- in-pulp (CIP) mill complex however, the project will be split into two phases.

In the first phase, only the gold mineralization will be treated in the mill. During the first year of operation, the Westwood mineralization will be processed at a rate of 700,000 t/a. Subsequently the tonnage will be increased to a capacity of 800,000 t/a. The Mouska copper circuit will be temporarily converted to a desulphuration circuit and the mill’s cyanide destruction capacity will be increased to treat the generated tailings.

In the second phase, the capacity of the existing copper flotation circuit will be increased. A zinc flotation circuit will be added and a new desulphuration circuit will be set up to begin tailing reclamation. The ore grinding circuit will utilize the existing SAG mill and a 1,000 hp ball mill.

The current Mouska flotation circuit will be used for copper flotation in the second phase of the project. Three tanks will be added to increase the retention time and the current copper concentrated thickener (3.6 m) will be upgraded to a bigger thickener (6 m) in order to meet the higher demand. A new circuit will be installed for zinc flotation. The paste backfill plant will be moved closer to the Westwood shaft allowing the paste to be distributed by gravity when required
by the underground infrastructure.

IAMGOLD says that once everything is in place, production is expected to average about 200,000 ounces of gold per year at an average diluted grade of 8.1 g/t Au and with cash costs averaging $290 per ounce.

Mr. Stothart concludes, “We’re all very proud to be part of the Abitibi community and we are committed to investing in the people and in communities in Quebec. Westwood is significant not only for IAMGOLD but for the Abitibi- Temiscamingue region as it is projected to employ 380 people by 2013. Our recent announcement to enter into a partnership agreement with the Rouyn Noranda Huskies (a major junior A hockey team) speaks to our commitment to the region. The Huskies hockey team is a central fixture in the lives of the people of Rouyn-Noranda and we will be working closely with the local school districts to reward academic excellence through hockey tickets and other incentives. We have also made a substantial investment of $75,000 per year for the next five years to Cgep de l’Abitibi- Tmiscamingue, which will fund training in mining and other resource orientated programs. We are determined to make Westwood a valuable asset not only to IAMGOLD but to the people of Rouyn/Noranda.”

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2009 Westwood Construction Update

*as of September, 2009

• On schedule for production in early 2013

• Exploration shaft raise bore completed

• Shaft sinking well under way

• Head frame construction completed

• Q2 2009 20,000m of drilling

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