Name: Meadowbank mine.

Location: The Meadowbank mine is located in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, about 2 600 km north-west of Toronto, Canada.

Controlling Company: Agnico Eagle Mines.

Brief Description: The Meadowbank mine is one of Agnico-Eagle’s largest mines. It hosts the Goose Island, Portage and Vault shallow deposits, which lie within 7 km of one another.

Brief History: Gold was first discovered in the area in the 1970s. In 1983, ground was staked around a gold showing in the Meadowbank area. Meadowbank was established as a major Canadian gold project in 2003. In 2006, the Nunavut Impact Review Board recommended development of the project. A development partnership agreement was signed with the Nunavut government in 2007 and Agnico-Eagle acquired the project and accelerated development. The first gold pour was in 2010.

Mining Method: Conventional drilling, blasting, truck and shovel.

Products: Gold.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The 8 500 t/d gold processing plant at Meadowbank uses conventional technology adjusted to the Arctic climate.To prevent freezing, the crushed ore is stored in a dome and transported to the plant on a covered conveyor.

The plant includes a cyanide recycling thickener and an air-sulphur dioxide cyanide destruction circuit to ensure that no cyanide escapes into the environment. After leaching, the ground ore is pumped to the nearby tailings pond for disposal.

Contaminated site water is prevented from mixing with fresh water through diversion ditches and is collected in the tailings pond. All water from the tailings pond is pumped back to the plant for reuse, making this a zero-discharge system and reducing the need for fresh water.

The mine relies on the yearly, warm-weather sealift by barge from Hudson Bay to Baker Lake for transportation of bulk supplies and heavy equipment. A 110 km all-weather road links Baker Lake to the site. An on-site airstrip is used for the shipping of food and goods and for transporting employees, who work on a fly-in, fly-out basis.

Geology/Mineralisation: The Meadowbank property is underlain by Archean-age volcanic and sedimentary rocks. The Goose and Portage deposits are hosted by magnetite-rich iron formation, while intermediate volcanic rocks host most of the mineralisation at the Vault deposit further north. The rock units and gold deposits are tightly folded and structurally complex, sandwiched between granite plutons.

Gold deposits are found along two main structural features that cross the property – the Meadowbank trend and the Pipedream Lake (Northeast) trend. The Meadowbank trend hosts the Goose Island, Portage and Vault deposits, which are the sites of initial mining. In all deposits, gold mineralisation is generally associated with intense quartz flooding and the presence of sulphide minerals (pyrite and/or pyrrhotite).

Reserves: Total proven reserves, as at December 31, 2012, were 25.32-million tonnes, with a grading of 2.82 g/t gold.

Resources: Total measured and indicated resources, as at December 31, 2011, were 10.33-million tonnes, with a grading of 2.49 g/t. Inferred resources were 3.6-million tonnes, with a grading of 3.81 g/t.

Prospects: Agnico’s exploration work is focused on extending the Goose deposit southward at depth, defining the Vault deposit area and investigating Vault East, a satellite deposit located close to the planned Vault pit.

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