Meadowbank plans good as gold
Agnico Eagle reports on summer exploration program
Walter Strong
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 17, 2014
Qamanittuaq/Baker Lake
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.(TSX:AEM) has completed this season's drilling at its Amaruq gold project, about 50 km northwest of the Meadowbank Gold mine near Baker Lake.
An aerial view of the Meadowbank mine complex near Baker Lake taken last August. The mine is projected to reach end of life in 2017. - photo courtesy Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. |
Amaruq quickly become one of the company's leading gold exploration projects over the past year.
And for good reason. The company has reported higher potential grades on the property than it is currently mining at Meadowbank.
Formerly going by the non-descriptive marker "IVR", the zone was first discovered in 2013.
To date, 31,598 metres have been drilled on the property, mostly this year. During the company's third quarter earnings call last month, company president and CEO Sean Boyd said the company would continue with more drilling this winter on underwater targets once lakes had frozen over enough to support a drilling rig.
The company reports spending $10 million on the project this year, making it 2014's most well-funded gold exploration program in Nunavut or the NWT to date.
"With an initial resource estimate expected early next year, Amaruq has the potential to significantly drive our Northern business platform, especially our Nunavut operations," Boyd stated in a Nov. 11 news release.
The focus of drilling in the latter part of the summer and into October was focused on Amaruq's "Whale Tail" zone.
Agnico Eagle reported drilling along a 1,200 metre strike zone showed mineralization with gold grades approximately two to three times higher than what the company mined at Meadowbank this year so far, which the company reports was an impressive 2.9 grams per tonne gold.
The deposit is also deep, with high-grade gold zones intersected at down to 350 metres (showing up to 10.8 g/t over 5.5 metres).
A directional drill hole that went under Whale Lake returned 8.7 g/t over 7.8 metres at 339 metres depth. What lay beneath Whale Lake will be further explored this winter once lake ice supports a drill rig.
Agnico Eagle expects to report an initial resource estimate on the Whale Tail early in 2015. To accommodate winter drilling the company is expanding the existing Amaruq camp to a 60-person facility, and relocating an 80-person exploration camp from Meadowbank to Amaruq this winter.
Boyd said recently that the resources at Amaruq could be tied into Meadowbank, with preliminary engineering already underway for an all-weather road connecting the project to the Meadowbank mine site.
The Meadowbank mine, Nunavut's only producing gold mine, has an expected end of mine life in 2017.
Agnico Eagle operates nine mines between Canada, Finland and Mexico, with many exploration projects across those regions and the U.S.
The company recently upgraded its global gold production expectations for the year to 1.4 million ounces of gold. This is up from the 1.1 million ounces the company originally forecasted at the start of the year.
Agnico Eagle's all-in cash and sustaining costs (including reclamation liabilities) across its global operations are reported by the company to be $990 per ounce.
The slump in the price of gold over recent weeks has been offset to a degree, Boyd told investors recently, by a parallel decline in the value of the Canadian dollar.
Agnico Eagle earned its 100 per cent interest in the Amaruq, which is within Inuit-owned land, through a mineral exploration agreement with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
