Agnico Eagle reports more promising results from Amaruq gold project

Agnico Eagle’s exploration camp at Amaruq, about 50 km northwest of the Meadowbank mine, is slated for expansion in 2015. (FILE PHOTO)

Agnico Eagle has completed the 2014 drill program at its Amaruq gold project, building on promising results from that location reported this past September.

The Amaruq project, which Agnico Eagle acquired in 2013, is located about 50 km northwest of the company’s Meadowbank gold mine in central Nunavut’s Kivalliq region.

“In just over a year, Amaruq has progressed from a new grassroots exploration discovery to one of the company’s most exciting exploration opportunities,” said Sean Boyd, Agnico Eagle’s president and CEO, in a Nov. 11 news release.

“With an initial resource estimate expected early next year, Amaruq has the potential to significantly drive our northern business platform, especially our Nunavut operations. We look forward to an expanded exploration program in 2015, which we hope will add further value.”

The $10-million 2014 field program was concluded in mid-October, with a total of 144 drill holes plus geophysics studies, field work and camp construction “to be in a position to expand activities in 2015.”

The company is now studying options for constructing an exploration road from Meadowbank to the Amaruq site.

And for the spring of 2015, Agnico Eagle plans to expand the size of its camp to accommodate 60 workers, up from the current 25.

The company has also begun an environmental baseline study for use in a possible future permitting application, and started preliminary engineering work on a potential all-weather road from Amaruq to Meadowbank.

The 2014 drill program at Amaruq wrapped up in mid-October with a total of 144 drill holes, including 60 holes in the Whale Tail zone.

Regularly spaced holes west and east of Whale Lake “consistently encountered high-grade gold mineralization,” the company said, with the last phase of the drill program stretching the Whale Tail zone by an additional 200 m.

Agnico Eagle acquired the 408-sq-km Amaruq property, located within Inuit owned lands, in April 2013, subject to a mineral exploration agreement with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

The company began an exploratory drilling program in July 2013 that started up again this past July 2014.