Name: LaRonde mine.

Location: LaRonde is located in the Abitibi region of north-western Quebec, in Canada.
Controlling Company: Agnico Eagle Mines (100%).

Brief Description: LaRonde is Agnico Eagle’s flagship operation. The 7 200 t/d mine and plant were expected to produce 157 000 oz of gold in 2011 and are expected to average about 290 000 oz/y of gold from 2012 through 2015, with a mine life lasting to 2023.

Brief History: In 1979, Agnico Eagle bought shares in Dumagami Mines, which owned the rights to the property that hosts the LaRonde operation. An initial study determined that the existing gold deposit was uneconomic and the programme was stopped. However, shortly afterwards, the exploration team discovered a new gold zone at the 180 m level, which yielded promising results. Further exploration confirmed the earlier high-grade gold values and, in 1988, the LaRonde mine came into production. In 1992, Dumagami transferred all of its property and assets, including the mine, to Agnico-Eagle, and was subsequently dissolved. Since then, the mine has undergone several expansions, such as the extension shaft reaching final depth of 2,8 km below surface in 2009. Agnico Eagle is constructing a deep extension at the mine.

Products: Gold and secondary metals silver, zinc, copper, lead.

Mining Method: Underground.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Access to LaRonde’s underground mining operation is through the 2.2-km-deep Penna shaft.

The LaRonde processing plant has a daily capacity of 7 200 t of ore, and has been expanded four times since it opened in 1988. In 2012, a new carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit was installed to replace the existing Merrill-Crowe circuit. A 1 500 t/d processing facility treats the ore trucked from the nearby Lapa mine, with concentrates from Lapa’s gravity and leach circuits sent to the LaRonde refinery to produce doré bars.

The deep extension of the LaRonde mine will reach full production in 2013. A significant reduction in silver feed grade from this new deposit has led to the implementation of a carbon-in-pulp circuit to replace the existing counter-current decantation and Merrill-Crowe circuits. Start-up of the new CIL circuit is planned for the end of the first quarter of 2013.

A biological water treatment plant helps address the build-up of thiocyanate, which previously caused toxicity problems in the tailings ponds at LaRonde. Additionally, water from mine dewatering and drainage water are treated at a lime plant at the LaRonde mill to remove metals prior to discharge.

Geology: The LaRonde property is located in the southern portion of the Archean-age Abitibi volcanic belt, within the Bousquet formation of the Blake river group of volcanic rocks. The rock units strike east-west, dip steeply to the south and generally face southward. The southernmost unit of the Bousquet formation, which hosts the significant gold and base metal mineralisation on the LaRonde property, varies in thickness from 150 m to more than 550 m. The unit is characterised by the dominance of quartz- and feldspar-porphyritic rhyodacite to rhyolite flows and pyroclastic rocks. The LaRonde deposits occur along the eastern extremity of the east-west-trending Doyon-Dumagami deformation zone, also called the Doyon-Bousquet-LaRonde (DBL) mining camp. The DBL mining camp also includes the Mouska, Doyon, Bousquet I and Bousquet II gold deposits, located west of LaRonde. The Cadillac sedimentary group occurs to the south. The most important regional structure is the Cadillac-Larder lake fault zone, located about two kilometres south of the LaRonde property.

Gold/copper and zinc/silver mineralisation occurs in the form of massive and disseminated sulphide lenses that vary in size and occur throughout the southern felsic unit of the Blake river group.

Reserves: Total proven reserves as at December 31, 2012, were 6.323-million tonnes, grading at 2.96 g/t gold, 30.81 g/t silver, 0.30% copper, 1.06% zinc and 0.12% lead. Total probable reserves were 22.462-million tonnes, grading at 4.99 g/t gold, 20.54 g/t silver, 0.24% copper, 0.68% zinc and 0.05% lead.

Resources: Total indicated resources as at December 31, 2012, were 5.432-million tonnes, grading at 1.88 g/t gold, 28.04 g/t silver, 0.12% copper, 1.5% zinc and 0.15% lead. Total inferred resources were 11.887-million tonnes, grading at 3.73 g/t gold, 11.68 g/t silver, 0.25% copper, 0.58% zinc and 0.05% lead.

Prospects: The ramp-up to the higher-grade lower mine has been slower than expected, owing to the negative impact of heat, congestion and reduced operational flexibility underground. Expansion of the ventilation and cooling system, which should be completed in late 2013, is expected to improve operating flexibility and production at the mine.

Despite the recent production delays, overall gold production and throughput is expected to remain unchanged over the life-of-mine. The value of ore processed over the remaining 15-year mine life is expected to be 50% higher than the ore mined in 2012.

As part of a five-year plan, the 2013 exploration programme is focused on converting resources into reserves, and systematically exploring at depth to the east and west along the LaRonde horizon. There has been near-surface exploration at Bousquet’s Zone 5 (3 km west of LaRonde’s Penna shaft), where drilling led to a scoping study in 2011. Agnico will continue optimisation of the study at Bousquet in 2013.

Contact Person: Corporate communications.

Contact Details:
Agnico Eagle Mines
Tel +1 416 847 8669
Fax: +1 416 367 4681
Email media@agnicoeagle.com
Website http://www.agnicoeagle.com