Among the latest highlights from its Siribaya project, IAMGOLD reported 26m at 6.79g/t gold including 8m at 20.52g/t in infill drilling; and 16m at 4.7g/t including 4m at 16.11g/t in expansion drilling.

The project's current resource comprises an indicated 2.1 million tonnes at 1.9g/t for 129,000 ounces, and an inferred 19.8Mt at 1.71g/t for 1.1 million ounces.

Exploration senior vice president Craig MacDougall said the 2017 drilling programme had better delineated high-grade structures in the known resource and confirmed extensions to both the north and south.

"These extensions have nearly doubled the strike length of the mineralised foot print and we continue to advance towards our objective of achieving a targeted resource threshold of 2 million ounces," he said.

The company has said it is targeting 25% growth in production by 2020 through organic growth opportunities.

Its attributable gold production in 2017 from four operating gold mines was at the upper end of guidance at 882,000 ounces and it expects 850,000-900,000oz this year.

It is targeting production in 2019 from its Saramacca project near its majority-owned Rosebel mine in Suriname.

Shares in the company closed up 1.12% to C$7.24, capitalising it around $3.3 billion (US$2.7 billion).