Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. said Oct. 7 that it achieved commercial production Sept. 30 at the Amaruq satellite deposit, part of the Meadowbank gold complex in Nunavut, Canada.
Ore processing at the operation started in August using low-grade stockpiles. Production at Meadowbank totaled 48,869 ounces of gold in the third quarter, higher than its pre-commercial guidance of 40,000 ounces of gold.
The Canadian miner lowered its gold output guidance for the Meadowbank complex this year to 200,000 ounces from 230,000 ounces, though this will not affect the full-year group guidance of 1.8 million ounces.
During the quarter ended Sept. 30, mining at Amaruq was affected by slower-than-expected dewatering activities, primarily related to heavier-than-expected rainfall. This led to Agnico Eagle bringing forward planned maintenance of the milling and crushing circuits originally set for 2020, with the mill to resume operations on or around Oct. 14.
