Highlights from RC drilling at Karita this year included 7m at 25.67g/t gold within a wider 21m grading 9.01g/t from 53m.

"We are very pleased to announce these drilling results which confirms a new grassroots exploration discovery along this portion of the Senegal-Mali Shear Zone," senior vice president exploration Craig MacDougall said.

Karita is the company's third grassroots discovery in West Africa behind the advanced Boto gold project 8km away in Senegal and the Diakha-Siribaya project 3km south in Mali, IAMGOLD said.

The company had identified an extensive gold geochemical anomaly over almost 2km through a 2017 reconnaissance geology and termite mound geochemical sampling programme over Karita.

The style of mineralisation and associated alteration appeared similar to IAMGOLD's other deposits in the region, the company said.

It owns 100% of Karita, which covers about 99.85sq.km in north-eastern Guinea along the borders with Senegal and Mali.

IAMGOLD said it would compile the Karita results with data from its 90%-owned Boto and Diakha-Siribaya projects to guide further drilling.

The company operates the Essakane mine in Burkina Faso, Rosebel in Suriname which was recently impacted by security issues and the seismicity-affected Westwood mine in Canada.
 
In Mali, IAMGOLD and its joint venture partner AngloGold Ashanti expect to finish processing stockpiles at Sadiola by year-end and have agreed to sell their stakes in the Yatela mine for US$1.

Shares in IAMGOLD closed up 2.8% to C$4.77 to capitalise it at $2.2 billion (US$1.65 billion).