Agnico hits record gold in 2015

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. Feb. 11 reported 1,429,288 ounces of payable gold for 2014, marking the fourth straight year of record gold production from the company's nine mines.

Agnico attributes its improved gold production, which is 30 percent greater than the 1.1 million oz in output it reported in 2013, to strong operating results from all of its operations.

The company's Meadowbank Mine in central Nunavut produced 452,877 oz of gold in 2014.

Gold output at this operation is currently forecast to decline during the next three years.

A decision to mine the Vault Pit, however, would change the 2016-2018 production profile for Meadowbank.

In the longer term, the Amaruq project, located roughly 50 kilometers (31 miles) northwest of Meadowbank, may be developed as a satellite operation.

In 2014, a C$10 million exploration program at Amaruq included 31,598 meters of drilling (144 holes) and collection of environmental baseline data.

As a result, Agnico reported a maiden inferred resource for Amaruq of 6.6 million metric tons grading 7.1 grams per metric tons (1.5 million ounces) gold.

Roughly 1.4 million ounces of these ounces are contained in the Whale Tail deposit, where the bulk of the 2014 drilling took place.

A 50,000-meter drill program, estimated to cost roughly C$20 million is expected to begin at Amaruq in March and a resource update is expected in the second half of 2015.

Permitting and preliminary engineering for the possible construction of an all-weather exploration road linking Meadowbank to Amaruq is ongoing.

At the Meliadine project, also in Nunavut, Agnico is anticipating a capital budget for 2015 of roughly C$64 million.

Of this total, about C$21 million is allocated toward 2,500 meters of underground development that will allow for cost-effective exploration and conversion drilling aimed at optimizing potential mining plans.

In January, the federal government accepted the Nunavut Impact Review Board's recommendation to approve Agnico's plan to develop a mine at Meliadine.

The Review Board will now convene all of the regulatory agencies for a final workshop, which is expected to lead to issuance of the project certificate within the next two months.

This would enable Agnico to apply for the permits needed to begin mine construction at Meliadine.

At the end of 2014, Meliadine has 3.34 million oz of gold in proven and probable reserves averaging 7.4 g/t gold.

"Given the strong potential to expand the initial 1.5 million-ounce resource at Amaruq, and the recent positive permitting news at Meliadine, we expect to unlock additional value from our Nunavut platform in 2015," said Agnico Eagle President and CEO Sean Boyd.