IAMGOLD Corporation
Toronto-based mid-tier gold mining company IAMGOLD has a strong portfolio of properties with six gold mines on three continents, as well as a strong financial position. However, President CEO Stephen J.J. Letwin says the company’s strength comes from more than just the tangible things the company has acquired over the years. He says much of the company’s success can be attributed to its people and the atmosphere it has created for them.
“The No. 1 focus is on safety and sustainability,” Letwin says. “It’s a core competency we have and it runs through our culture. Also, we have an entrepreneurial culture trying to grow our asset base and be of value to the communities in which we operate.”
This is exemplified in the company’s Zero Harm sustainability program, IAMGOLD’s commitment to continually strive to reach the highest standards in human health, minimize environmental impact and to work cooperatively with host communities. The company received several awards in 2011 for its efforts in the area of corporate social responsibility as demonstrated through the Zero Harm program, including the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Social and Environmental Sustainability Award and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Syncrude Award for Excellence in Sustainable Development.
“Right up there with our culture of safety and entrepreneurship is the fact that we believe in empowering our people,” Letwin adds. The combination of these attributes is what makes IAMGOLD confident about the future, and will serve as the basis for its success.
Established in 1992, IAMGOLD produces approximately 1 million ounces of gold annually. In addition to its producing gold mines, the company also holds a portfolio of development and exploration projects, which are focused on West Africa, South America and Canada. These include its main mine sites in Suriname, Burkina Faso and Quebec. Letwin joined the company as CEO in November 2010 after spending 30 years in the energy sector. He says he was looking for an opportunity to run a company before retiring and saw IAMGOLD as a perfect opportunity.
“When I first considered joining IAMGOLD, a lot of the experience I had in oil and gas was quite transferrable,” he says. “I saw that IAMGOLD had a great upside, some great assets and some great people. Now that I’ve been in the role for over six months, I’ve confirmed what I saw and am excited by our opportunities to become the gold company of choice.”
Forward-Thinking
One primary example of the quality of the assets is the company’s Rosebel mine in Suriname. The mine consists of five open pits, with three additional pits to be mined in the near future. The mine has grown its proven and probable gold reserves from 2.4 million ounces in 2003 to 6.2 million ounces at the end of 2010 and has produced 2.7 million ounces over that same time period. Letwin says IAMGOLD has expanded the mine four times in the last eight years, which he attributes to the company’s culture.
“All of that is driven by employees who have been empowered to deal directly with the government and make decisions that are driven by both economic benefits for our shareholders and economic benefits for the community,” Letwin says. “In fact, we believe we exist to enrich the lives of all of our stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, business partners and the communities in which we operate.
“For example, after overshooting our targeted throughput with the expansion of our milling capacity in 2009, we had to expand our leach tanks in 2010 to make sure we extracted the optimum amount of gold.” The ideas for these changes came directly from the company’s field employees, Letwin says, and the company’s size and configuration made it possible for IAMGOLD to act on those ideas quickly. “We can move faster, and that’s all tied to empowerment,” Letwin says. “Our employees are very engaged and empowered. We have delegated project responsibilities very effectively with the results that we have many major projects moving at the same time.”
Another example of empowerment can be found at the company’s Niobec niobium mine in Quebec, Canada. Letwin says the company’s employees have begun to look at that mine differently, and have increased resource estimates there by 691 percent. Letwin says niobium will increase in demand as the demand for lighter, stronger steel products grows, particularly in emerging economies. Niobium-enhanced steel is primarily used for automobiles, pipelines and structural steel. A good example of the demand for this kind of steel is the growing demand for lighter, more fuel-efficient cars that still offer the strength to meet safety standards.
Letwin says the company’s strong technical group is another key strength for the company. “We’re a fully integrated gold company in terms of finding it, building it and mining it,” he says.
Finding Good People
With the emphasis IAMGOLD places on its employees, finding the right people understandably is a significant concern for the company. Finding young people with the necessary skill sets to help the company succeed is difficult, so IAMGOLD partners with universities to give interested students the opportunities to hone their skills. “More importantly, we’re trying to get people with the brand of empowerment we have,” Letwin says.
Many young people become frustrated by the prospect of spending years at a mining company without the opportunity to make an impact, but IAMGOLD’s culture of empowerment makes it possible to make an impact much sooner than would be possible at other companies.
Additionally, Letwin says the company seeks to maximize the employment of local residents to ensure that a fair share of social and economic benefits remain in the host communities.