Agnico-Eagle reports positive Finland gold mine decision

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (TSX-AEM, NYSE-AEM) said the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland has issued a positive ruling on the operating permit for its Kittila gold mine in northern Finland.

Under the ruling, the operating permit has been restored to 2.0 million tonnes, a move that puts Agnico in position to achieve close to the upper end of its 2023 gold production target, which is currently set at between 3.24-3.44 million ounces.

Agnico President and CEO Ammar Al-Joundi applauded the decision and said the company now expects 30,000 ounces of additional production from the Kittila mine in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The undergound Kittila operation is the largest primary gold producer in Europe, producing 216,947 ounces of gold in 2022. It is located 900 kilometres north of Helsinki and 150 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle.

In 2020, the Regional State Administrative Agency of Northern Finland granted Agnico Eagle Finland Oy environmental, and water permits that allowed the company to enlarge the CIL2 tailings storage facility, expand the operations at Kittila to 2.0 million tonnes annually (a 25% increase in capacity) and build a new discharge water line. The mill expansion was completed at a cost of 29.5 million Euros.

The permits were subsequently appealed to the Vaasa Administrative Court in Finland. The appeals were granted in part in July 2022, with the result that the permits were returned for consideration by the Regional State Agency of Northern Finland. In August, 2022, the company appealed the decision of the Vaasa Administrative Court to the SAC and requested that the SAC restore the permits. No further appeals are available.

On October, 27, 2023, the SAC confirmed that the environmental permits granted to Agnico Finland in 2020 remain valid and production can continue at a rate of 2.0 million tonnes.

The company operated Kittila at an annualized rate of 2.0 million tonnes annually in the first nine months of 2023, providing 30,000 ounces of additional gold production.

Agnico-Eagle shares rose 0.98% or 45.6 cents to $47.87. The shares are trading in a 52-week range of $61.15 and $40.81.

Agnico is a Canadian gold mining company with operations in Canada, Australia, Finland and Mexico.

The Kittila ruling comes just after the company released its third quarter 2023 results.

Agnico reported payable gold production of 850,429 ounces in the third quarter of 2023 at an all-in-sustaining cost of US$1,210 an ounce.

That brought production for the first nine months of 2023 to 2.53 million ounces at an AISC of US$1,162 an ounce.

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