IAMGOLD Completes Term Loan Repayment and Receives Approval for Normal Course Issuer Bid
IAMGOLD De-Risks Balance Sheet, Kicks Off Buyback as Côté Cash Flows In
The December 9, 2025 press release announces two key financial milestones for IAMGOLD. First, the company has fully repaid its 2nd Lien Term Loan by making a final payment of $130 million. Second, the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) has approved the company's Normal Course Issuer Bid (NCIB), or share buyback program. Under the NCIB, IAMGOLD is authorized to purchase up to 57,000,000 of its common shares, representing approximately 9.92% of the public float, over a 12-month period starting December 12, 2025. The company intends to fund the share purchases using operating cash flows.
This news is materially positive and marks a significant inflection point for the company, demonstrating a tangible shift from a high-capital expenditure developer to a cash-flowing producer focused on strengthening its balance sheet and initiating shareholder returns.
- Deleveraging: The full repayment of the 2nd Lien Term Loan is a critical de-risking event. This was high-cost debt with an interest rate of SOFR + 8.25%. Eliminating it will reduce interest expenses, improve net earnings, and enhance the company's financial flexibility. This action delivers on management's stated goal of disciplined deleveraging, made possible by the strong cash flow from the now-ramped-up Côté Gold mine.
- Shareholder Returns: The approval and impending start of the NCIB is a powerful signal of management's confidence in the company's undervaluation and future prospects. It provides a tax-efficient way to return capital to shareholders and can provide support for the stock price. The commitment to fund it from operating cash flow underscores the strength of the underlying business, particularly the Côté mine.
- Strategic Execution: This news is the direct financial outcome of successful operational execution throughout 2025. The company guided in June that the conclusion of its gold prepay arrangements would mark a "cash flow inflection point." These actions confirm that this inflection point has been reached and the resulting cash is being deployed as promised. After a year of focusing on ramping up Côté, the company is now demonstrably in the next phase of its evolution.
While positive, the high operating costs seen throughout 2025 remain a key concern. The strong cash flow enabling these actions is heavily supported by a record gold price environment, which has so far masked persistently high All-In Sustaining Costs (AISC), particularly at Côté. The success of this new phase depends on bringing those costs down to ensure profitability through the gold price cycle.
IAMGOLD is a Canadian-based mid-tier gold producer with three operating mines: the Westwood Complex (Quebec, Canada), the Essakane mine (Burkina Faso), and its flagship asset, the Côté Gold mine (Ontario, Canada).
The company's flagship project is the recently commissioned Côté Gold mine. It is a large-scale, long-life open-pit mine which IAMGOLD operates with a 70% interest in partnership with Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. (30%). Côté achieved nameplate throughput capacity in June 2025 and is the central driver of the company's production growth and cash flow generation. The company is actively exploring the adjacent Gosselin deposit with the long-term plan of creating a "super pit" and expanding the processing plant, potentially making it one of Canada's largest gold mines.