WEEKLY ONLINE NEWS STORY
You are receiving this weekly newsletter at no additional cost as part of your subscription to Petroleum News. If you do not want to receive this newsletter, email Shane Lasley at publisher@miningnewsnorth.com to be removed from the list.
| March 04, 2010 --- Vol. 04, No. 09 | March 2010
|
Nunavut
Meadowbank, Nunavut’s newest gold mine, produced its first gold bar Feb. 27, marking a milestone for owner Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. The gold bar, weighing 8,134 grams or 287 ounces, was poured at the mine near Baker Lake. “The target is to produce about 300,000 ounces per year, so we should pour, once a week, a few bars,” on-site manager Denis Gourde told CBC News March 1. The Meadowbank property is located about 110 kilometers by road north of Baker Lake in Nunavut’s Kivalliq region. About 500 people currently work at the mine site, including construction workers, but that number is expected to drop to 340 when the mine begins regular production. Meanwhile, Agnico-Eagle plans to raise its shareholder dividend as its capital costs decrease after completing five new mines in the past two years, the Canadian gold miner said March 1. Speaking at a mining conference in Florida, Agnico-Eagle CEO Sean Boyd said spending is set to plunge following the recent construction of new mines, including Meadowbank. The company expects capital spending of about C$478 million this year, but that should fall to C$178 million in 2011 and to about C$100 million thereafter. “What that will allow us to do is to generate net free cash flow, and what do we do with that, we will reinvest some of that back in the business at these projects, but we also increase the dividend,” he said. The Toronto-based company last raised its annual payout in 2007 to 18 cents a share. Meadowbank is the fifth new mine Agnico-Eagle has opened since 2008, joining the Goldex and Lapa mines in Quebec, the Kittila mine in Finland, and the Pinos Altos mine in Mexico.
GOLD – Commander Resources Ltd. March 4 said it plans to begin a comprehensive exploration program in April on its wholly owned Baffin Island Gold Project, Nunavut. The program will be operated by Commander and funded by AngloGold Ashanti under the terms of $20 million Farm-in JV Agreement announced September 3, 2009. The initial budget approved by AngloGold for the 2010 program is USD$4.55 million and will include at least 5,500 meters of drilling on two target areas. The initial 2010 program will include 3,500 meters of drilling on the Malrok Zone and 2,000 meters of drilling on the new Kanosak Prospect Area (previously named the Hébert Prospect Area). In addition, target verification work at Ridge Lake and Durette will include surface geological mapping, core re-logging and structural interpretation to design appropriate follow-up drill programs. The Baffin Gold Project represents a district-scale gold belt with similar geological and genetic origins as the large Homestake area in South Dakota and the Morro Velho Mine in Brazil. To date the Baffin Project has yielded numerous gold prospect areas occurring over a strike length exceeding 100 kilometers, or 62 miles. The property includes high-grade gold values in at least three separate iron formation units, within shear zones and quartz veins in younger granodiorite, gabbro, and metasedimentary units. In each of the different settings, gold occurs primarily as free gold. The Baffin Gold Project is subject to a farm-in joint venture agreement, announced in September, with AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.’s subsidiary AngloGold Ashanti Holdings Plc that provides AGA the option to earn an initial 51 percent interest in the project by funding C$20 million in exploration over a six-year term along with other considerations.
Did you find this article interesting?
Email it to an associate.
Print this story
Mining News North - Phone: 1-907 522-9469 - Fax: 1-907 522-9583
Publisher@MiningNewsNorth.com --- http://www.MiningNewsNorth.com
S U B S C R I B E
|
|
|
