The use of automated equipment can help improve productivity and safety.SUPPLIED
Since its founding in 1957, Agnico Eagle has expanded from small silver-mining activities in Cobalt, Ontario, to the second-largest gold producer in the world.
Today, the company has a regional strategy focused on investing in optimization initiatives and infrastructure to improve productivity at its 10 mining operations in four countries, and it has the strongest exploration and development project pipeline in its 68-year history.
“There’s a big growth story at Agnico Eagle across all our regions, and optimization, innovation and leveraging technology are part of that story,” says Natasha Vaz, the company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer for Ontario, Australia and Mexico.
She says that lessons learned from infrastructure upgrades and automation at mines such as the LaRonde Zone 5 mine in Quebec and the Macassa mine in Ontario are being applied across its operations, from better tracking of personnel and equipment to enhancing the reliability of data and diagnosing the health of machinery.
Agnico Eagle’s Hope Bay project, in Nunavut, has the potential to become a 400,000 ounces of gold per year producer.SUPPLIED
Dominique Girard, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Nunavut, Quebec and Europe, says synergies between Agnico Eagle’s mines mean that knowledge gained in one can be implemented in others. “We’ve grown through regional thinking, developing good relationships with communities and establishing a competitive advantage with suppliers.”
This same strategy is being applied to five key growth projects: Hope Bay in Nunavut, Odyssey in Quebec, Upper Beaver and Detour Underground in Ontario, and San Nicolás in Mexico.
Natasha Vaz“ There’s a big growth story at Agnico Eagle across all our regions, and optimization, innovation and leveraging technology are part of that story.
Executive Vice President and COO for Ontario, Australia and Mexico, Agnico Eagle
Ms. Vaz says that in a mining-friendly jurisdiction like Ontario, the company’s platform has the potential to grow by about 50 per cent in the next decade. Detour, a cornerstone asset and the largest open-pit goldmine in Canada, generates 650,000 to 700,000 ounces of gold a year. By going underground, it recently outlined a pathway to produce one million ounces a year for some 14 years starting in the early 2030s, she notes. “We’re just starting to scratch the surface.”
Haulage-fleet optimization and workforce development have been implemented to support the next phase of Detour growth, Ms. Vaz says, such as a switch to lighter-weight buckets so trucks carry more ore. An integrated planning centre will help reduce non-productive time, ensuring shift changes are efficient and use real-time data for more informed and quicker decisions.
Upper Beaver is an advanced exploration project, in Ontario, with low-risk opportunity to grow production in the prolific Kirkland Lake camp.SUPPLIED
Mr. Girard says the focus is on productivity. For instance, the company has pioneered the use of wireless LTE networks underground to optimize telecommunications and the use of automated equipment, which in some cases increases production by 5 to 15 per cent. “That’s huge,” he adds.
Agnico Eagle is currently operating at 3.4 million ounces of gold per year, which could increase to four million to 4.5 million ounces a year with the new projects ramping up as early as 2030, he says. The Canadian Malartic complex is transitioning underground with the Odyssey mine, and the company has a vision to bring the operation to produce one million ounces of gold a year, with a potential second shaft and the addition of nearby satellite deposits.
At Hope Bay, Nunavut, the company is leveraging its 17 years of experience operating in the Arctic and estimates this third potential operation could produce 400,000 ounces of gold per year. “By leveraging our people and assets, we really play the regional synergy card to be the best,” he says.
Meanwhile, the San Nicolás copper and zinc project in Zacatecas, Mexico, a joint venture with Teck Resources, is also progressing, Ms. Vaz notes. “We continue to advance the feasibility study and engineering work. We are also engaging with local communities and with government at all levels to promote positive, responsible mining in Mexico.”
She says the company supports diversity at all levels. For instance, its Dr. Leanne Baker Scholarship program creates a structure for women at Agnico Eagle to develop leadership skills, build confidence and increase their visibility within the organization.
With challenges in workforce availability, Agnico Eagle has established an underground mining school at Macassa that trains local candidates who’ve never had exposure to mining. It also has a targeted immigration program for skills that are hard to find and recruit for in Canada.
With a need for heavy-duty mechanics, for example, the Ontario team reached out to employees at the company’s La India mine in Mexico, which is in the process of closing. Ms. Vaz says a dozen of them and their families made the move a year ago from Mexico to Kirkland Lake, Ontario. “We don’t have just regional synergies but global ones,” she adds.
Advertising feature produced by Randall Anthony Communications with the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.