Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited announced that it is conducting a tour for analysts and investors of its new Kittila gold mine and facilities in northern Finland on November 18, 2008. Construction commenced at the 100% owned Kittila mine project in northern Finland in the second quarter of 2006. Kittila has probable gold reserves of 3.0 million ounces (18.2 million tonnes grading 5.1 grams per tonne).

The Kittila mine has achieved mechanical completion and gold concentrate production is underway. A total of 35,000 tonnes of low grade material has been processed through the mill as part of the commissioning process. To date, payable gold production(1) contained in saleable gold concentrate totals approximately 1,100 ounces.

The orebody has had approximately 7.0 million tonnes of stripping done in the main Suuri pit, and approximately 280,000 tonnes of ore have been blasted to date. A further 7,000 tonnes of ore have been drilled and is awaiting blasting. Current indications are that ore recovery is higher, and dilution lower, than what was expected in the feasibility study. Current surface ore stockpiles total 235,000 tonnes grading 4.6 grams per tonne. Since the transition was completed from contractor-mining to self-mining at the beginning of the fourth quarter, performance has improved significantly, attaining mine plan objectives.

Underground development is also well underway. A total of 4.9 kilometers of underground development has been completed to date. The production decline is also being used for exploration drilling, focusing on both resource to reserve conversion and deep exploration. The Company’s underground training program has resulted in significant improvement with the mine now achieving plan objectives.

The final stages of commissioning of the autoclave are now underway. The leaching circuit and the refinery have already been commissioned and are presently awaiting slurry from the autoclave. Concentrate is currently being introduced into the autoclave. Performance and autoclave temperatures will be monitored over the next several days and dictate whether any further adjustments and repairs would be required. Any delays in the commissioning of this circuit may affect Kittila’s ability to meet its 2008 gold production target.

Currently, a total of eight drills are operating on the mining lease, seven on surface and one underground. Four of the surface drills are engaged in resource to reserve conversion drilling while the remaining three are on exploring the Main zone at depth. The underground drill is dedicated to ore delineation for production purposes. In addition, exploration continues outside of the mining lease area, along the 15 kilometre Suurikuusikko gold trend.

Agnico-Eagle is a long established Canadian gold producer with operations located in Quebec and Finland and exploration and development activities in Canada, Finland, Mexico and the United States. Agnico-Eagle’s LaRonde mine is Canada’s largest gold deposit in terms of reserves, while the Kittila mine is expected to be the largest gold producer in Europe. The Company has full exposure to higher gold prices consistent with its policy of no forward gold sales. It has paid a cash dividend for 26 consecutive years.

This entry was posted by Gold Mining on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Gold, Gold Mining Companies. Tags: Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited, Canada, Europe, Finland, gold producer, Kittila gold mine, Kittila mine, LaRonde Mine, Mexico, Quebec, self-mining, United States. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.