Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd is projecting that its gold production will grow to 2 million oz/year by 2020 from about 1.6 million oz/year, thanks in large part to new and expanded mining projects in Canada's Nunavut territory, Sean Boyd, the Toronto-based company's vice chairman and CEO, said this week.
"Nunavut is certainly a platform where we're spending more capital. We find that a unique place where you can get business done," Boyd told the Denver Gold Forum conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Nunavut, he added, "wants mining and development."
The three-day conference ended Wednesday, but the presentations of participating companies were not available on webcasts until Friday.
Agnico's eight mines are located in Nunavut and Quebec in Canada, Mexico and Finland. Also the company is exploring for precious metals in Sweden, a country whose cost structure Boyd said may be "too high to make it work."
The company's strategy is to focus on "mining friendly" countries and regions in Canada such as Nunavut and Quebec.
The Meadowbank open-pit mine in Nunavut is Agnico's largest gold producer, turning out 312,214 oz, along with 221,000 oz of silver in 2016.
Once an ongoing expansion project that includes the new Amaruq open-pit gold mine about 30 miles northwest of Meadowbank and Meliadine underground and open-pit mine also in Nunavut are completed in 2019, the company's total gold output should hit 2 million oz/year.
Amaruq is being developed as a "satellite" deposit to nearby Meadowbank, according to Boyd.
