Agnico Eagle becomes sole owner of Canadian Malartic mine

Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM), the world’s third-biggest gold producer, is now the sole owner of Canadian Malartic, the country’s largest open pit and one of North America’s biggest gold mines.

The Canadian company has also added to its portfolio the under-construction Odyssey mine, the Wasamac project located in the Abitibi region of Quebec, as well as several other exploration properties located in Ontario and Manitoba.  

The inclusion of these new assets comes as Agnico Eagle completed a transaction on Friday with Pan American Silver (TSX: PAAS; NYSE: PAAS) and Yamana Gold. The deal granted the Toronto-based miner ownership over certain subsidiaries and partnerships held until now by Yamana.

Pan American and Agnico Eagle Mines trumped in November Gold Fields’ (NYSE: GFI; JSE: GFI) bid for Yamana with a joint US$4.8-billion bid.

Agnico Eagles said the completion of the deal consolidated its presence along the Abitibi gold belt, in Quebec. “[This is] a region with low political risk and high geological potential where the company has a competitive advantage from having operated there for over 50 years,” it said in a statement.

The Toronto-based miner forecasts production in the Abitibi gold belt to be between 1.9 million ounces and 2.1 million ounces of gold per year through 2025.  In addition, the company expects to monetize future additional mill capacity at the Canadian Malartic mine, given its extensive operations and strategic land position in the region.

Production from mill optimization efforts will get under way next year and has the potential to deliver up to 500,000 ounces of gold per year by the end of the decade.

Agnico has said that the Canadian Malartic complex should have up to 40,000 tonnes of ore a day of excess mill capacity by 2028, as processing of open pit ore and low-grade stockpiles begin to wind down. In parallel, processing is transitioning to the higher grade Odyssey mine, while the LaRonde Complex could have up to 2,000 tonnes of ore per day of excess capacity from the second quarter of this year.

Overall, Agnico Eagle is forecasting production to grow from 3.28-million ounces in 2022 to between 3.4-million and 3.6-million ounces in 2025.