Meadowbank owner celebrates 55 years on TSX

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd., owner of the Meadowbank and Meliadine gold properties, celebrated its 55th year of having its stocks listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, when Jim Nasso, AEM’s chair, and Sean Boyd, the company’s CEO and president, rank the bell Aug. 10 to open the day’s trading.

“Ringing the TSX opening bell was a fitting commemoration of our 55 years in business. We are one of Canada’s longest established gold producers and we are proud to celebrate that fact,” Boyd said.

Agnico-Eagle started in 1953, when five small companies merged to create a firm called Cobalt Consolidated Mining.

In 1957, the name changed to Agnico Mines Ltd. The name is formed from the chemistry symbols used to represent silver (Ag), nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co.) On Dec. 27 that year, the company’s common shares began trading on the TSX.

In 1972, the company merged with Eagle Gold Mines to form Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.

Financial results issued this past July 27 for the second quarter of 2012 suggest AEM is bouncing back from a disappointing performance in 2011, when the company suffered a net loss of $568.9 million due to a variety of setbacks, including problems with its Goldex mine in Quebec.

To cope with higher than expected production costs at Meadowbank, in February 2012, AEM announced the mine will likely shut down three years earlier than planned, in 2017.

At the same time, AEM announced a new mine plan for Meadowbank that saw them extracting smaller quantities but higher grades of ore.

By doing this, the company reduced its production cost per ounce of gold at Meadowbank to $804 per ounce, down from a level that soared just above $1,000 per ounce in 2011.

Overall, the company saw $122 million in net income for the first six months of 2012 and set a three-month record for gold production at Meadowbank, 98,043 ounces.

At the company’s Meliadine project, AEM expects to spend $91 million this year on infrastructure and exploration to expand the area’s gold reserves and has started construction on a 24-km all-weather road between Rankin Inlet and the proposed mine site.

The company hopes to complete an updated feasibility study for mine operations at Meliadine by the end of 2013.