Agnico Eagle Provides an Update on 2023 Exploration Results and 2024 Exploration Plans - Mineral Reserves Up 10.5% Year-Over-Year to 54 Moz
15 February 2024
TORONTO, Feb. 15, 2024 /CNW/ - Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) (TSX: AEM) ("Agnico Eagle" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on year-end 2023 mineral reserves and mineral resources, exploration activities at mine sites and select advanced projects in 2023 and the exploration plan and budget for 2024. The Company's exploration focus remains on extending mine life at existing operations, testing near-mine opportunities and advancing key value driver projects.
"The Company's ambitious exploration program in 2023 and continuing into 2024 is yielding exciting results. At Detour Lake, step-out drilling suggests potential for an underground operation and, together with optimization of the current open pits and mill, bringing the Detour Lake mine to a production rate of one million ounces per year. At Odyssey, step-out drilling continues to significantly extend the East Gouldie deposit to the west and east. At Hope Bay, drill results confirm the expansion of the Madrid deposit at depth with wide high grade intercepts, in line with our expectations for the exploration upside of this project," said Guy Gosselin, Agnico Eagle's Executive Vice-President, Exploration. "In addition, we continue to generate significant exploration results elsewhere across our portfolio, including Fosterville, Amaruq, Macassa and Kittila. These positive results demonstrate the success of our strategy, and we will continue the steady funding of our exploration efforts in 2024 as we aim to grow the deposits at existing operations and to realize the potential of the key projects in the Company's pipeline," added Mr. Gosselin.
Highlights from 2023 [for Nunavut] include:
- Hope Bay – Exploration drilling in 2023 totalled more than 125,000 metres, with work focused on the Madrid and Doris deposits. At the Madrid deposit, the target area in the gap between the Suluk and Patch 7 zones delivered strong drill results in the quarter, including 16.3 g/t gold over 28.6 metres at 385 metres depth and 12.7 g/t gold over 4.6 metres at 677 metres depth. Results confirm the potential to expand gold mineralization in the Madrid deposit at depth and along strike to the south. Based on recent exploration success, the Company is evaluating a larger potential production scenario for Hope Bay. The Company expects to report results from this internal technical evaluation in 2025
- Amaruq – Positive grade reconciliation led to adjustments in the ore zone model and mineral reserve estimation parameters, resulting in a new proven and probable mineral reserve estimate of 1.8 million ounces of gold (15.4 million tonnes grading 3.72 g/t gold). Based on these results, the Company has approved an extension to the IVR open pit, which is expected to contribute approximately 70,000 ounces of gold to the 2026 production profile and extend the mine life to 2028 (previous mine life was 2026). Exploration also continued to return significant mineralization at depth, with results up to 11.3 g/t gold over 6.4 metres at 979 metres depth.