Agnico Eagle podcast spotlights Nunavut’s people, environment and mining

Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX, NYSE: AEM), generating about one-fifth of Nunavut’s gross domestic product, launched The Arctic Edge podcast series on Thursday. This series aims to show listeners the realities about the Territory and Canada’s North, Agnico chair Sean Boyd tells The Northern Miner.Hosted by journalist Hannah Thibedeau, the series includes interviews with Inuit leaders, politicians, business executives and military figures. The first two episodes are available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, with an Inuktitut edition due later.“We’re not their voice,” Boyd said. “We created a platform to hear their stories and so other Canadians can hear their stories.”Nunavut is working to shed its frontier image and attract capital across various sectors. Spending on exploration and deposit appraisal in the territory is expected to jump by 47.4% this year, according to a February Natural Resources Canada report. This growth is much higher than in the neighbouring Northwest Territories, which is on track to see just 6.8% growth. Nunavut’s 2025–26 business plan sets aside $350.2 million for social and transport infrastructure. It also keeps the North of 60 mineral exploration tax credit for Inuit-owned lands.Exploration companies are answering the call. Fury Gold Mines (TSX, NYSE: FURY) has found three drill-ready targets at its Committee Bay project in the Kitikmeot region of western Nunavut. After finishing its 2024 program, it plans another significant drill campaign this season to build on exploration momentum. Further south in the same region, B2Gold (TSX: BTO, NYSE-A: BTG, NSX: B2G) crews are on track to pour first gold by June at the Back River (Goose) project, despite project costs rising 30%.Agnico Eagle has put a pin in mining at Hope Bay in favour of drilling out a larger resource that could support the operation through cyclical ups and downs. (Credit: Agnico Eagle Mines)Strong presenceAt about $56 billion, Agnico ranks first by market cap among gold producers listed in Canada. Since entering Nunavut in 2007 it has invested more than $10 billion in the territory, according to Boyd, who celebrates 40 years working with the company this month.Agnico’s Nunavut portfolio spans three major assets. The Meadowbank complex in the western Kivalliq region includes the namesake open pit and the Amaruq satellite deposit. In 2024, it poured its five-millionth ounce of gold. Its life of mine has been extended to 2028. The Meliadine mine near Rankin Inlet, 300km southeast of Meadowbank began commercial production in May 2019 and, through a mix of underground and open-pit operations, is slated to run until at least 2032.Together, these projects anchor Agnico’s Arctic strategy and underpin close to a quarter of the territorial gross domestic product, Boyd said.And at Hope Bay in the Kitikmeot region, Agnico holds the Doris, Madrid and Boston deposits. Under this year’s $500 million exploration budget, Agnico has ramped up drilling at Hope Bay across the three trends. Crews have drilled more than 60,000 metres of core this year alone, testing extensional targets along the Doris shear and stepping out into the Boston zone. Recent assays continue to expand high-grade envelopes near surface, Boyd said.Agnico has secured permits for Hope Bay’s 4,000-tonne-per-day mill and the company aims to convert these latest hits into a revised reserve estimate and updated feasibility study by year-end.“We’re still getting really good drill results at Meadowbank, Detour, Hope Bay,” Boyd said. “Even though we’re a big company, we haven’t lost track of how we got here, which was making calls on geological upside and proving those theories.”Arctic advocacyThe mining doyen traces Agnico’s Arctic story to its first project at Baker Lake, where locals greeted the team as partners. “We left after three days and felt there was a place we could do business,” he said.Setbacks at Meadowbank taught the value of drawing on Agnico’s existing Quebec-located skills base, with charter flights from Val-d’Or taking 3.5-hours to reach Iqaluit. “We couldn’t source labour from the oil sands,” Boyd said about figuring out working in the remote frozen wilderness during the early days.Agnico stepped-up its Arctic advocacy around 2019 when management gave speeches to the Canadian Club in Toronto and then engaged Ottawa and federal ministries. Boyd suggests establishing mines in the north is the key to securing Canada’s northern border.“Sovereignty is presence, the ability to control your future; and the best way to create Arctic sovereignty is strong communities and prosperous families in those communities,” he said.The Doris mine at Agnico Eagle’s Hope Bay project in Nunavut. (Credit: Agnico Eagle Mines)Local voicesLast year, the Agnico communications team launched a social media campaign called “We make mining work,” aimed at sparking discussion about resource issues. To sharpen that message, they teamed with an outside agency to start The Arctic Edge podcast and shift attention to the North’s opportunities and challenges.Guests include Kono Tattuinee, president of the Kivalliq Inuit Association; Dennis Patterson, senator for Nunavut; and Scott Clancy, director general of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Inuit artist and cultural advocate Clara Evalik told Boyd her grandson harvested 39,000 lb. of Arctic char in one month. Also scheduled to be a future guest on the podcast, Evalik said Agnico Eagle’s stewardship had reassured her that traditional ways of life can continue alongside mining.While Nunavut is far from the manufacturing plants where critical minerals are used to build zero-emissions technologies, the podcast will also focus on critical-metal supply and community health.“Canada needs to tell the story of the North,” Boyd says. “This podcast is just the beginning.”Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com