The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News – September 2, 2022
Agnico Eagle completed 35,606 meters of drilling at Meliadine and surroundings during the first six months of 2022.
Infill drilling at Whale Tail Underground confirmed gold grades and width of stopes with underground production to ramp up in the second half of 2022.
Agnico decided to forego production activities at Hope Bay to carry out additional exploration at the company's recently acquired gold mine in northern Nunavut.
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., now firmly established as a gold producer in Nunavut, is adding another US$30 million to an already generous 2022 exploration budget for two of its three operations in the Far North Canadian territory.
Agnico views Nunavut as a politically attractive and stable jurisdiction with enormous geological potential. The company reported gold production exceeding 774,000 ounces from its two Nunavut mining operations in 2021.
Yet it was drilling results from early 2022 that prompted the miner to augment an already hefty 2022 exploration budget earmarked for exploration expenditures this year in Nunavut.
"With these positive results, we are adding 30 million dollars to our exploration budget in 2022 as we aim to accelerate the realization of the full potential of existing operations and key projects in the company's pipeline," said Agnico Eagle President and CEO Ammar Al-Joundi.
With the company's Meliadine mine near Rankin Inlet and Meadowbank complex (including the Amaruq satellite deposit), together with the Hope Bay project and other exploration targets, Nunavut is a strategic operating platform that builds on the company's established infrastructure, access roads, procurement synergies and the region's tremendous geological potential, with the ability to generate strong gold production and cash flows over several decades.
With 3.7 million in proven gold reserves, Meliadine includes seven deposits – six in the current mine plan. Tiriganiaq is the largest of the deposits with a strike length of approximately 3.0 kilometers at surface and a known depth of 812 meters.
On March 9, Meliadine poured its millionth ounce of gold after three years in operation. A phase 2 expansion to 6,000 metric tons per day from the current rate of about 4,800 tpd is underway and expected to be complete by mid-2024. Exploration efforts are focused on increasing mineral reserves and mineral resources to extend mine life beyond the current projection of 2032.
Meliadine is currently in the permitting phase to potentially develop properties south of the mine site.
Managers at Meliadine, meanwhile, are also pursuing technology that would allow Agnico to automate more of the operation to improve efficiency and output and extend the life of the mine.
Exploration during the first six months of 2022 at Meliadine and surrounding areas totaled 35,606 meters drilled, with work focused on three areas: deep exploration and conversion drilling at the Pump deposit; infill drilling of inferred mineral resources at depth in the Wesmeg and Tiriganiaq deposits; and exploration drilling at the F-Zone deposit.
At the Pump deposit, Agnico completed 51 holes from surface totaling 16,890 meters to convert and expand the mineral resources at the Pump South and North zones.
The positive results from infill drilling at shallow depth into the Pump South Zone are expected to convert a portion of inferred mineral resources into indicated mineral resources in the eastern (main) ore plunge. Highlights include:
• Hole M22-3364, which intersected 6.5 grams per metric ton gold over 4.1 meters at 143 meters depth.
• Hole M22-3361, drilled 36 meters to the east, intersected 11.7 g/t gold over 4.2 meters at 125 meters depth.
• Hole M22-3362, drilled 51 meters further east, which returned 6.4 g/t gold over 5.4 meters at 76 meters depth,
• Hole M22-3360, drilled 93 meters east of hole M22-3364, which returned 9.4 g/t gold over three meters at 87 meters depth.
• Hole M22-3380A, drilled about 200 meters deeper down-plunge in the same gold-mineralized ore shoot, intersected 9.3 g/t gold over 4.2 meters at 328 meters depth.
• Hole M223382A, drilled 33 meters to the east, intersected 7.7 g/t gold over five meters at 321 meters depth.
• Hole M22-3384, drilled 80 meters east of hole M22-3364, intersected 20.4 g/t gold over 3.7 meters at 339 meters depth.
These holes are expected to convert inferred mineral resources located between two substantial areas of indicated mineral resources.
In 2021, the exploration drilling program identified an important mineral inventory at the limits of the mineral resource along the main plunge. This year's follow-up drilling program confirmed the grade, thickness, and continuity of this new mineralized zone. Hole M223391, which returned 18.8 g/t gold over 5.3 meters at 565 meters depth, is expected to extend the inferred mineral resources down plunge. Hole M22-3401, drilled into inferred mineral resources located 106 meters to the east, returned 10.1 g/t gold over 5.0 meters at 488 meters depth.
Drilling of the Pump North and Pump South targets is planned to resume next winter. An internal study is underway of the underground portion of the Pump deposit and is due for completion in early 2023.
Elsewhere on the Meliadine property in the first half of 2022, a total of 18,716 meters of exploration and conversion drilling was completed in Tiriganiaq and Wesmeg deposits from the newly developed exploration drift as well as from surface in the F-Zone deposit.
Based on the recent success of exploration at Meliadine, Agnico earmarked another US$6 million for drilling an additional 40,000 meters in the second half of 2022 to support mineral resources to mineral reserves conversion and the addition of mineral resources in the extensions of the known deposits.
At Meadowbank, infill drilling at Whale Tail Underground confirmed the grade and width of stopes with underground production to ramp up in the second half of 2022, while exploration drilling in the gap between IVR Pit and IVR Underground returned positive results. The explorer also undertook a deep drilling campaign below the Whale Tail, IVR and Mammoth areas
The exploration program at Amaruq in 2022 was budgeted at US$19.5 million for a planned 61,800 meters of exploration and conversion drilling, with 31,996 meters completed during the first half of 2022.
The exploration drilling in 2022 has several objectives, including completing definition drilling of mineral resources to allow evaluation for possible Whale Tail Pit extension at its western end toward the Mammoth prospect as well as extending mineral resources at depth in the Whale Tail, IVR and Mammoth deposits; below the IVR pit, testing a gap between the open pit and the underground mineral resources; and continuing delineation drilling in the underground mine in the Whale Tail deposit to confirm the final shapes of stopes as production will gradually ramp up in the second half of 2022.
Agnico said underground infill drilling in the Whale Tail deposit during the first half of 2022 has increased confidence in the geological modeling of the deposit and better defined the stopes that are scheduled for production during the second half of 2022.
A deep drilling campaign began at Amaruq in late April with the objective of extending underground mineral resources under the Whale Tail, IVR and Mammoth known orebodies. To date, two deep holes at Whale Tail and two others at Mammoth were completed and intersected the targeted mineralized horizons, with all results pending. Drilling is also ongoing at IVR at depth where the deposit remains open.
Agnico decided in February to continue the suspension of production activities at its Hope Bay mine in northern Nunavut and to use the project's infrastructure for exploration activities. Infrastructure work for water treatment and camp maintenance is also underway while the company is studying larger production scenarios integrating the most recent results and the progress of the ongoing exploration campaign.
The exploration program, meanwhile, continues to ramp up at Hope Bay, with 136 drill holes totaling 46,658 meters completed from surface and underground during the first half of 2022. Three drill rigs are now operating underground at the Doris deposit, three drill rigs are targeting deep extensions of the Doris deposit from surface, and a seventh surface drill rig is operating at the Madrid deposit.
"At Hope Bay, the drill results confirm the expansion of the Doris deposit at depth with wide high-grade intercepts, well ahead of our expectations," said Al-Joundi.
Recent results at Doris confirm the potential to expand the deposit along strike to the north in the BTD Extension Zone and to the south in the Central and West Valley zones and demonstrate the potential for finding additional high-grade fold-hinge structures below the historical zones with a recent intersection in the BTD Connector zone of 6.9 g/t gold over 32.2 meters at 495 meters depth.
The results further demonstrate the potential to significantly grow the Doris mineral resources to support the development of additional underground exploration drifts and platforms to further confirm the size, shape, and grade of these high-grade mineralized zone extensions.
During the second half of 2022 at Doris, work will continue extending the exploration drifts and investigating the deposit from underground and surface drill rigs.
At the Madrid deposit, during the first half of the year, one surface drill rig was in operation and mainly targeted the inflection zone in the Naartok East area and the vertical extension of the Suluk zone. Hole HBM22-040, which was drilled outside the Naartok East inflection zone, intersected 7.0 g/t over 7.0 meters at 385 meters depth. Results from Suluk are pending.
During the second half of 2022, two drill rigs are also planned to be in operation at Madrid, targeting the Suluk vertical extension and the Naartok East Zone at greater depth.
At the Boston deposit located 60 kilometers south of the Doris processing facility, maintenance work is underway to refurbish the various facilities prior to resuming exploration drilling activities in the area in 2023.
The Boston deposit remains open in all directions with one of the best historical results at depth, returning 56.6 g/t over 8.8 meters at 1,014 meters depth, demonstrating substantial potential to expand this high-grade deposit further in all directions. There are also near-surface high-grade occurrences that have not been drilled. Agnico is also compiling and validating a historical exploration database at Boston to develop geological and structural models for the deposit that will help generate new drill targets for a 2023 campaign.
This year's regional field exploration program began in early June, with geological teams set to evaluate more than 50 showings identified by previous explorers near current infrastructure in the northern portion of the Hope Bay property. The aim of the program is to increase understanding of the structural controls on mineralization and generate regional drill targets.
Based on recent success identifying deposit extensions and discovering new mineralized zones at depth in the Doris and Madrid deposits, Agnico allocated another US$24 million for exploration to continue drilling and development of exploration drifts at Doris to accelerate exploration from underground in the high-potential areas. This should ease future definition drilling for mineral resources conversion and mine development for future production resumption, the company said.
Agnico is expected to spend roughly US$56 million at Hope Bay in 2022 to develop new exploration drifts and for surface and underground exploration drilling at Doris and for surface exploration drilling at Madrid and other regional targets along the Hope Bay greenstone belt. Exploration at Hope Bay will continue through 2023 while larger production scenarios are evaluated.
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