A Nunavut milestone: Meadowbank’s first gold bar
Mine will produce more than $1 million worth of gold each day
Here's the first gold bar produced by Agnico-Eagle's Meadowbank operation, Nunavut's only operating mine, on Feb. 27.
The Feb. 27 production of the first gold bar at Agnico-Eagle’s Meadowbank mine was cause for celebration. From left to right: Simon Tookoome, Baker Lake elder; James D. Nasso, chairman of Agnico-Eagle’s board; Peter Tapatai of Baker Lake, businessman; David Simailak, deputy mayor; Denis Gourde, general manager of Meadowbank (holding the gold bar); David Aksawnee, mayor of Baker Lake; and Ebe Scherkus, president and chief operating officer of Agnico-Eagle. (PHOTO COURTESY OF AGNICO-EAGLE)
Managers and workers at the Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake joined with community leaders Feb. 27 to celebrate the production of the mine’s first gold bar.
The gold bar, or brick, weighed about 250 ounces, but by next week the mine will churn out bars weighing 1,000 ounces each, at a rhythm of one per day.
This may seem like a small amount but gold now sells for about $1,100 an ounce, giving each bar a value of about $1.1 million.
Each ounce of gold will cost $300 to produce, but the profit margin remains high. That’s because gold has held its value even as other metal prices have nose-dived.
The price of gold may even soar to $1,500 an ounce which general manger Denis Gourde said will give Agnico-Eagle, the company behind the Meadowbank mine, more money to invest in exploration and improvements.
The production of the first gold bar comes as work is nearly complete on the $700 million project, which is believed to hold at least 3.6 million ounces of gold reserves.
Gourde said a formal opening ceremony for the mine is likely to be held June 18.
Meadowbank plans to produce 350,000 ounces of gold this year, and average 350,000 to 400,000 ounces annually over the mine’s estimated nine-year mine lifespan.
The bars will be shipped out by plane from Meadowbank.
Agnico-Eagle had hoped to launch production by the end of December 2010, but normal last minute problems delayed the start-up, Gourde said.
The mine complex will be finished within two months, he said.
And until this work is finished, 475 workers with Agnico-Eagle and 300 construction workers will remain on site.
About 36 per cent of the Agnico-Eagle’s 388 workers are Inuit, Gourde said. The rest are mainly French-speaking Québécois.
Although the start-up was a cause for celebration, nder the Inuit impact and benefits agreement, Agnico-Eagle won’t hand out profit-sharing cheques to Inuit in Baker Lake and other Kivalliq communities, as the Raglan nickel mine does in Nunavik.
Instead, beneficiaries stand to reap millions from service contracts and receive priority for mine jobs.
Agnico-Eagle, which acquired the mine from Cumberland Resources in 2007, also operates a gold mine in northern Quebec and in northern Finland.
