TORONTO - Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (TSX:AEM) said Monday that drilling results support the company's position that there is considerable exploration upside at its Kittila project in Finland and Pinos Altos project in Mexico.
"Based on these recent drilling results, it is possible that Kittila will become our largest gold deposit, and one of the largest in Europe," chief executive Sean Boyd said in a statement.
"Additionally, Pinos Altos appears that it will ultimately support several stand-alone satellite zones which will supplement the production from the main Santo Nino deposit."
Agnico-Eagle has operations or projects in Quebec, Nunavut, Finland, Mexico and the United States.
In October, the company reported that it produced 30,000 fewer ounces of gold than it expected to in the third quarter due to difficulties at several of its new mines.
The Kittila mine in Finland, which began production last January, averaged production of about 2,000 tonnes per day with the amount of metal recovered from the ore averaging a less-than-optimal 64 per cent in the quarter.
Problems at several other mines also contributed to the disappointing third-quarter results.
The Lapa mine in the Abitibi region of northwestern Quebec, which began production in May, averaged production of 1,200 tonnes a day versus capacity of 1,500 tonnes a day.
In addition, production problems at the newly operating Pinos Altos mine in Mexico slowed Agnico-Eagle's ability to refine its ore, and the company produced a lower grade of ore than expected at its Goldex mine, also in Quebec.
The gold miner cut its 2009 production guidance to about 500,000 ounces and lowered its 2010 production guidance from 1.2 million ounces to between one million and 1.1 million ounces.
Source:brandonsun.com/
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