Agnico Eagle explores extending life of Meadowbank, Meliadine mines
Hope Bay in Kitikmeot Region is also part of company’s future, VP says
Chris Adams, Agnico Eagle’s vice-president for Nunavut, speaks at the Nunavut Mining Symposium in Iqaluit on Wednesday. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. is looking at extending the lives of its two Kivalliq Region mines beyond their planned closure dates.
“It’s safe to say that Nunavut is an important platform for Agnico Eagle,” said Chris Adams, Agnico Eagle’s vice-president for Nunavut, speaking alongside executives from B2Gold Corp. and Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. on a panel Wednesday at the Nunavut Mining Symposium in Iqaluit.
Agnico Eagle’s Meadowbank site, which produced 504,719 ounces of gold last year and employs 1,831 people, is scheduled to close in 2028. Its Medialine mine near Rankin Inlet, which put out 378,886 ounces of gold in 2024 and employs 1,558 people, is set to close in 2032.
Adams said in a presentation that production at those sites might continue past the mines’ planned end dates, but at a lower scale. However, an official announcement might not come until early next year.
“Once we understand our costs better, obviously the gold price environment does help but we still have to be profitable,” he said in an interview.
The price of gold is about $4,300 per ounce, up sharply from the start of 2024 when the price was about $2,800 an ounce.
Adams didn’t have a timeline for how much longer Agnico Eagle would keep Meadowbank open past 2028, if it is able to do so. But the company is looking into that, as well as the permitting and regulatory processes.
“I think we have a lot of our permits in place so it’s just more, maybe, amendments,” he said.
“I have a very strong team that keeps on top of those things.”
As 2028 approaches, the company is looking for ways to support Meadowbank workers in the event the mine does close, Adams said.
The future of the employees, especially those from Baker Lake, was a concern raised by Craig Simailak, that community’s MLA, in recent legislative assembly sittings.
Adams said Agnico Eagle is already in the process of ensuring employees can continue working either in Nunavut or at one of the company’s other Canadian sites.
“We’re always looking for a skilled workforce within the organizations, so we’ve already started those interviews,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ve kind of told us what their preferred options are, so we’ll keep those open for transfers of employees.”
Within Nunavut, Agnico Eagle still has its sights on Hope Bay, the Kitikmeot Region property it acquired in 2021 after purchasing TMAC Resources Inc.
Hope Bay is “shovel-ready,” Adams said. He said gold production is expected to start in 2030, but an official announcement will come next year.
“It is one of our core assets, so it’s going to be part of our future for Nunavut,” he said.
Come on QIA you guys makes weekly news on baffinland mine and for sure you guys take care of your inuit employees. But these agnico eagle mine they give false information to make it look like they are doing their job. I am trying to complain to KIA, no absolutely help yet and they don’t give their weekly news. Come on people of kivalliq, speak up more on behalf of the people and ancestors been taking care of the land. They only speak up until there is some news from them. And they were saying million ounces of gold were they make it within a little over a year on news. This news says 300,000 ounces. There should be a better company that we can understand and that can you better with their employee.
504,719 and 378,886 is almost a million ounces.
UVANGA, go get a job and stop complaining, AEM is like any other company, get a job pay your rent and taxes, stop freeloading
They don’t even want to show the agreement they made when they open the mine. KIA don’t even help these kivallimiut on inuit those who work there. For sure they are using inuit benefits to constructions to build these they are thinking to build.
You just need to go and search the KIA website, all the Inuit Impact Benefit Agreements that KIA entered into with AEM are available on there. You just need to look through the website to find them and then you have to take the time to read them because 3 out of 4 of them are about 140 pages long. You should probably think before you speak. You are one of the reason’s why an Inuk like me hide my face sometimes, you make Inuit look so stupid and savage. Inuit should be so proud because we are so ajungi and strong! Please start being a true proud Inuk!
I tried commenting the truth of course nunatsiaq news didn’t post it
The two AEM mines employee hundreds of Inuit living in Ontario and Montreal and hundreds more in the Kivalliq region. If the mines shut down it will mean economic hard ship for many Inuit who work at these two mines.
There needs to be a fund set up to cross train Inuit who end up being laid off when these two mines shut down so they are employable in other professions weather it be construction, fishing, etc.