Agnico Eagle sets sights on nearly 800,000 ounces of Nunavut gold in 2023

Mining company lays ground for Meliadine mine expansion and more Inuit employees

By Derek Neary Northern News Services

processed, is to produce just over 400,000 ounces, a significant increase from 275,000 ounces in 2022.

At Meliadine, the expec- tation is to extract up to 375,000 ounces of gold this year.

The company is proposing to expand its Meliadine mine, north of Rankin Inlet, by developing the Tiriganiaq-Wolf underground deposit and going underground at the Pump, Fzone and Discovery zones. This would entail an additional 225 camp rooms for staff, a new airstrip, a wind farm and disposal of tailings and waste rock in a designated pit and a wind farm. The initiative is projected to extend the mine life at Meliadine to 2043, an additional 11 years.

The company has already started public consultations on this proposed project and has encountered some voices of opposition at the community level, primarily based on environmental and wildlife concerns. Martin Plante, vice-president of Nunavut operations for Agnico Eagle. said the company welcomes such feedback and adapts its projects accordingly. He cited the installation of a water line from Meliadine to Melvin Bay. There were initial misgivings expressed over the line’s potential to affect caribou, so Agnico Eagle acted on recommendations to bury the line underground to minimize any impact.

“We adapted our project on this feedback, so we see that really positively to receive those comments,” said Plante. “We want to be in Nunavut for the long term and we believe there is a way to responsibly achieve mineral development and economic prosperity while meeting the conservation of the territory and the wildlife as well.”

The Kivalliq Inuit Association (KIA) ultimately came out in support of that water line.

“The Kivalliq Inuit Association worked with Agnico Mines and other intervenors to find resolutions to its concerns in advance of and during this hearing. We are satisfied that our technical concerns have been addressed through the new information provided, commitments made by Agnico Eagle and the proposed terms and conditions we have filed with the Nunavut Impact Review Board,” KIA president Kono Tattuinee stated in June 2021.

As for the proposed Meliadine expansion, the KIA is offering few comments to the media.

“At this time the project is under review proceedings. All the information KIA has submitted is in the public website of the Nunavut Impact Review Board. KIA will not make any further comments until the review process is complete,” reads a statement sent by Hunter Tootoo, Tattuinee’s executive assistant.

In correspondence sent to the review board in late February, KIA outlines a need for additional information from Agnico Eagle in order to reach conclusions on several aspects of the Meliadine expansion.

Continued on page B11

Doris North remains on hold

At the Hope Bay project in the Kitikmeot region, the Doris North gold mine was not in production in 2022. Agnico Eagle has been concentrating on exploration in the area. This year will feature $30.6 million worth of work to complete 72,200 metres of drilling, including 30,800 metres of underground exploration drilling at the Doris deposit in hopes of adding to the existing mineral reserves. Surface drilling is also planned at the nearby Madrid deposit.

Plante wouldn’t put a date on when gold production will resume at Hope Bay.

“We need a sufficient volume (of gold) to make that project sustainable,” he said. “Our goal is not to start and shut down again. We want to come with a project that will be opening for a longer-term and for the benefit of the Kitikmeot region.”

Exploration plans at the Meliadine mine add up to $16.6 million to cover 63,200 metres of drilling at the Tiriganiaq, Pump, Normeg, Wesmeg and F-Zone deposits and further development of the exploration drift.

At the Meadowbank Complex, the company expects to spend approximately $15.1 million to do 40,000 metres of drilling at Amaruq underground deposits and at near-surface satellite deposits close to the road and infrastructure around the Meliadine and Meadowbank/Amaruq operations. Any new discoveries at open-pit depths have the potential to extend the life of each mine in conjunction with the extensions of higher-grade underground mineralization at each site.

Inuit employment

Including contractors, Inuit employment stood at around 380 people in 2022.

Also last year, 14 Inuit employees were in the “management and pro- fessional” and “skilled” categories, excluding contractors.

Since the beginning of March, Ag- nico Eagle has launched Sanajiksanut, a community-based recruitment program that has resulted in a total of 198 hires. Forty-one Inuit employees were added during the first quarter of this year.

“Our goal remains that one day our Nunavut mines will be operated and managed by Inuit,” Plante said. Effects of inflation

Agnico Eagle has been wrestling with inflationary pressures and has been focused on ways to reduce its diesel fuel consumption, which represents a major cost, Plante said. That effort to reduce fuel usage also contributes towards Agnico Eagle’s commitment to reduce its carbon output by 30 per cent as of 2030 and to achieve net zero carbon by 2050.

“Renewable energy is a big file for us,” he said, adding that the company is a major supporter of the Kivalliq hydro-fibre link proposal, which would provide a clean source of power. “To us, it goes beyond Agnico Eagle, it’s a nation-building project that will open even further the territory for more mineral development and economic development for Nunavut.”