AGNICO EAGLE PROVIDES AN UPDATE ON 2023 EXPLORATION RESULTS AND 2024 EXPLORATION PLANS - MINERAL RESERVES UP 10.5% YEAR-OVER-YEAR TO 54 MOZ; INITIAL MINERAL RESERVES OF 5.2 MOZ DECLARED AT EAST GOULDIE; INITIAL UNDERGROUND MINERAL RESOURCES DECLARED AT DETOUR LAKE OF 1.6 MOZ

2024-02-15

NASDAQ - Nasdaq Stock Market · Gold · Antimony · Silver · United States

Canada NewsWire

Stock Symbol: AEM (NYSE and TSX)

(All amounts expressed in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted)

TORONTO , Feb. 15, 2024 /CNW/ - Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) (TSX: AEM) ("Agnico Eagle" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on year-end 2023 mineral reserves and mineral resources, exploration activities at mine sites and select advanced projects in 2023 and the exploration plan and budget for 2024. The Company's exploration focus remains on extending mine life at existing operations, testing near-mine opportunities and advancing key value driver projects.

"The Company's ambitious exploration program in 2023 and continuing into 2024 is yielding exciting results. At Detour Lake, step-out drilling suggests potential for an underground operation and, together with optimization of the current open pits and mill, bringing the Detour Lake mine to a production rate of one million ounces per year. At Odyssey, step-out drilling continues to significantly extend the East Gouldie deposit to the west and east. At Hope Bay, drill results confirm the expansion of the Madrid deposit at depth with wide high grade intercepts, in line with our expectations for the exploration upside of this project," said Guy Gosselin , Agnico Eagle's Executive Vice-President, Exploration. "In addition, we continue to generate significant exploration results elsewhere across our portfolio, including Fosterville , Amaruq, Macassa and Kittila. These positive results demonstrate the success of our strategy, and we will continue the steady funding of our exploration efforts in 2024 as we aim to grow the deposits at existing operations and to realize the potential of the key projects in the Company's pipeline," added Mr. Gosselin.

Highlights from 2023 include:

Gold mineral reserves increase to record level – Year-end 2023 gold mineral reserves increased by 10.5% to 53.8 million ounces of gold (1,287 million tonnes grading 1.30 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold). The year-over-year increase in mineral reserves is largely due to the declaration of initial mineral reserves at East Gouldie, the acquisition of the remaining 50% interest in the Canadian Malartic complex and mineral reserve replacement at Macassa and Fosterville . At year-end 2023, measured and indicated mineral resources were 44.0 million ounces (1,189 million tonnes grading 1.15 g/t gold) and inferred mineral resources were 33.1 million ounces (411 million tonnes grading 2.50 g/t gold), including initial underground inferred mineral resources at Detour Lake Detour Lake – The Company's exploration success outside of the mineral resource open pit continued, with results of up to 24.8 g/t gold over 7.4 metres at 420 metres depth approximately 860 metres west of the mineral resource open pit. An initial underground inferred mineral resource was declared below and to the west of the existing pit, totalling 1.56 million ounces of gold (21.8 million tonnes grading 2.23 g/t gold). Exploration in 2024 is expected to continue to test and extend the west plunge of the main deposit. The Company expects to provide an update on the Detour underground project and ongoing exploration results in the first half of 2024 Odyssey mine at the Canadian Malartic complex – Initial mineral reserves of 5.17 million ounces of gold (47.0 million tonnes grading 3.42 g/t gold) were declared in the central portion of the East Gouldie deposit at year-end 2023. Successful exploration over the past year has extended the limits of the East Gouldie inferred mineral resource laterally to the west by 870 metres, with results of up to 6.2 g/t gold over 6.7 metres at 1,299 metres depth. Recent drilling continues to return good results towards the east with results of up to 6.7 g/t gold over 13.5 metres at 1,467 metres depth and 140 metres to the east of the current mineral resources outline. Inferred mineral resources at the East Gouldie deposit were 3.3 million ounces of gold (45.2 million tonnes grading 2.29 g/t gold) Hope Bay – Exploration drilling in 2023 totalled more than 125,000 metres, with work focused on the Madrid and Doris deposits. At the Madrid deposit, the target area in the gap between the Suluk and Patch 7 zones delivered strong drill results in the quarter, including 16.3 g/t gold over 28.6 metres at 385 metres depth and 12.7 g/t gold over 4.6 metres at 677 metres depth. Results confirm the potential to expand gold mineralization in the Madrid deposit at depth and along strike to the south. Based on recent exploration success, the Company is evaluating a larger potential production scenario for Hope Bay. The Company expects to report results from this internal technical evaluation in 2025 Fosterville – Continued exploration success in the Robbins Hill and Lower Phoenix areas and improved mining parameters led to full replacement of 2023 production. Mineral reserves are stable year-over-year at 1.7 million ounces of gold (8.6 million tonnes grading 6.10 g/t gold). The lower average grade of the mineral reserves compared to year-end 2022 is the result of the depletion of the high grade Swan Zone that has been replaced mostly by lower grade mineral reserves from the Robbins Hill area Amaruq – Positive grade reconciliation led to adjustments in the ore zone model and mineral reserve estimation parameters, resulting in a new proven and probable mineral reserve estimate of 1.8 million ounces of gold (15.4 million tonnes grading 3.72 g/t gold). Based on these results, the Company has approved an extension to the IVR open pit, which is expected to contribute approximately 70,000 ounces of gold to the 2026 production profile and extend the mine life to 2028 (previous mine life was 2026). Exploration also continued to return significant mineralization at depth, with results up to 11.3 g/t gold over 6.4 metres at 979 metres depth Macassa – Continued exploration success in the Main Break and the South Mine Complex ("SMC") zones contributed to growth in proven and probable mineral reserves at Macassa to 2.0 million ounces gold (4.2 million tonnes grading 14.45 g/t gold), and in the Amalgamated Kirkland ("AK") deposit to 160,000 ounces of gold (742,000 tonnes grading 6.69 g/t gold), with drill results in AK of up to 25.0 g/t gold over 5.0 metres at 365 metres depth Kittila – Exploration in 2023 identified an underexplored, parallel mineralized structure named the East Zone located in the Suuri area at shallow depth, approximately 140 metres east of the mine's producing Main Zone and outside current mineral resources. Recent drilling in the East Zone returned an intersection of 11.5 g/t gold over 7.8 metres at 204 metres depth Exploration budget – The Company has budgeted $259.0 million for expensed and capitalized exploration and $77.7 million for studies and other expenses in 2024. The Company's exploration focus remains on extending mine life at existing operations, testing near-mine opportunities and advancing key value driver projects. Priorities for 2024 include drilling the deeper portions of the Detour Lake deposit, increasing exploration at the Canadian Malartic camp to extend known deposits and identify new mineralized zones to optimize utilization of the Canadian Malartic processing facility in the future, and continuing large exploration programs at other operating assets and Hope Bay

GOLD MINERAL RESERVES

At December 31, 2023 , the Company's proven and probable mineral reserve estimate totalled 53.8 million ounces of gold (1,287 million tonnes grading 1.30 g/t gold). This represents a 10.5% (5.1 million ounce) increase in contained ounces of gold compared to the proven and probable mineral reserve estimate of 48.7 million ounces of gold (1,186 million tonnes grading 1.28 g/t gold) at year-end 2022 (see the Company's news release dated February 16, 2023 for details regarding the Company's December 31, 2022 proven and probable mineral reserve estimate).

The year-over-year increase in mineral reserves at December 31, 2023 is largely due to a substantial new mineral reserve addition of 5.2 million ounces of gold at the East Gouldie deposit at the Odyssey mine. The acquisition of the remaining 50% interest in the Canadian Malartic complex as part of the acquisition of Yamana Gold Inc.'s Canadian assets on March 31, 2023 (the "Yamana Transaction") also contributed to adding 1.5 million ounces of gold in mineral reserves.

In Zacatecas State in central Mexico , the San Nicolás volcanogenic hosted massive sulphide deposit is jointly owned by the Company and Teck Resources Limited. As at December 31, 2023 , the Company has reported 52.6 million tonnes of proven and probable mineral reserves grading 0.40 g/t gold, 22.28 g/t silver, 1.12% copper and 1.48% zinc, containing 0.7 million ounces of gold, 37.7 million ounces of silver, 592,000 tonnes of copper and 777,000 tonnes of zinc (each reported on a 50% basis) at San Nicolás.

Mineral reserves were calculated using a gold price of $1,400 per ounce for all operating assets, except the Detour Lake open pit for which a gold price of $1,300 per ounce was used, and using variable assumptions for the pipeline projects. For detailed mineral reserves and mineral resources ("MRMR") data, including the economic parameters used to estimate the mineral reserves and mineral resources and by-product silver, copper and zinc at several mines and advanced projects, see "Detailed Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource Data (as at December 31, 2023 )" and "Assumptions used for the December 31, 2023 mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates reported by the Company" below.

The ore extracted from the Company's mines in 2023 contained 3.72 million ounces of gold _in-situ _(61.8 million tonnes grading 1.88 g/t gold). This includes the Company's 50% share of the production up to March 30, 2023 at the Canadian Malartic complex prior to the closing of the Yamana Transaction.

The variance in the Company's proven and probable mineral reserves from December 31, 2022 to December 31, 2023 is set out in the chart below.

[](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2341172/Agnico_Eagle_Mines_Limited_AGNICO_EAGLE_PROVIDES_AN_UPDATE_ON_20.html)

The Company's gold mineral reserves as at December 31, 2023 are set out in the table below, and are compared with the gold mineral reserves as at December 31, 2022 . Data in this table and certain other data in this news release have been rounded to the nearest thousand and discrepancies in total amounts are due to rounding.

By Mine / Project* | Proven & Probable Gold Mineral Reserve (000s oz.) | Average Mineral Reserve Gold Grade (g/t) | | | | | | | | | 2023 | 2022 | Change | 2023 | 2022 | Change | | | | | | LaRonde mine | 2,244 | 2,515 | -271 | 6.4 | 6.36 | 0.04 | | | | | LaRonde Zone 5 | 636 | 710 | -74 | 2.2 | 2.12 | 0.08 | | | | | LaRonde complex | 2,880 | 3,225 | -345 | 4.51 | 4.42 | 0.09 | | | | | Canadian Malartic mine | 2,436 | 1,505 | 931 | 0.83 | 0.9 | -0.07 | | | | | Odyssey deposits | 310 | 98 | 211 | 2.17 | 2.22 | -0.05 | | | | | East Gouldie deposit | 5,173 | 0 | 5,173 | 3.42 | | | | | | | Canadian Malartic complex | 7,919 | 1,603 | 6,315 | 1.73 | 0.93 | 0.8 | | | | | Goldex | 901 | 962 | -61 | 1.59 | 1.62 | -0.03 | | | | | Akasaba West | 143 | 147 | -4 | 0.89 | 0.84 | 0.05 | | | | | Detour Lake (at or above 0.5 g/t) | 16,594 | 17,253 | -659 | 0.93 | 0.93 | 0 | | | | | Detour Lake (below 0.5 g/t) | 3,335 | 3,431 | -96 | 0.39 | 0.39 | 0 | | | | | Detour Lake total | 19,928 | 20,683 | -755 | 0.76 | 0.76 | 0 | | | | | Macassa | 1,954 | 1,797 | 157 | 14.45 | 17.2 | -2.75 | | | | | Macassa Near Surface | 23 | 16 | 7 | 5.93 | 5.31 | 0.62 | | | | | AK deposit | 160 | 100 | 60 | 6.69 | 5.2 | 1.49 | | | | | Macassa total | 2,136 | 1,913 | 224 | 13.11 | 15.11 | -2.00 | | | | | Upper Beaver | 1,395 | 1,395 | — | 5.43 | 5.43 | 0 | | | | | Hammond Reef | 3,323 | 3,323 | — | 0.84 | 0.84 | 0 | | | | | Amaruq | 1,837 | 2,164 | -327 | 3.72 | 4.05 | -0.33 | | | | | Meadowbank complex | 1,837 | 2,164 | -327 | 3.72 | 4.05 | -0.33 | | | | | Meliadine | 3,467 | 3,766 | -299 | 5.91 | 6.02 | -0.11 | | | | | Hope Bay | 3,397 | 3,409 | -12 | 6.52 | 6.5 | 0.02 | | | | | Fosterville | 1,682 | 1,677 | 4 | 6.1 | 7.95 | -1.85 | | | | | Kittila | 3,584 | 3,683 | -100 | 4.14 | 4.2 | -0.06 | | | | | Pinos Altos | 546 | 665 | -118 | 1.9 | 2.01 | -0.11 | | | | | San Nicolás (50%) † | 672 | 0 | 672 | 0.4 | | | | | | | La India | 0 | 81 | -81 | | 0.76 | | | | | | Total Mineral Reserves | 53,811 | 48,697 | 5,114 | 1.3 | 1.28 | 0.02 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

| * Ownership of mines and projects is 100% unless otherwise indicated. Where Agnico Eagle's interest is less than 100%, the stated mineral reserves reflect the Company's interest. | | Agnico Eagle's ownership of the Canadian Malartic complex increased to 100% on December 31, 2023 from 50% on December 31, 2022 as a result of the Yamana Transaction which closed on March 30, 2023. | | † Agnico Eagle has agreed to subscribe for a 50% interest in the San Nicolás project, which will be contributed as study and development costs are incurred and, accordingly, Agnico Eagle's share of the reported MRMR at the San Nicolás project is reported at a 50% level. |

The Company estimates that at a gold price 10% higher than the assumed gold price (leaving other assumptions unchanged), there would be an approximate 17% increase in the gold contained in proven and probable mineral reserves. Conversely, the Company estimates that at a gold price 10% lower than the assumed gold price (leaving other assumptions unchanged), there would be an approximate 11% decrease in the gold contained in proven and probable mineral reserves.

GOLD MINERAL RESOURCES

At December 31, 2023 , the Company's measured and indicated mineral resource estimate totalled 44.0 million ounces of gold (1,189 million tonnes grading 1.15 g/t gold). This represents a 0.6% (0.3 million ounce) decrease in contained ounces of gold compared to the measured and indicated mineral resource estimate at year-end 2022 (see the Company's news release dated February 16, 2023 for details regarding the Company's December 31, 2022 measured and indicated mineral resource estimate).

The year-over-year decrease in measured and indicated mineral resources is primarily due to the upgrade of mineral resources at East Gouldie to mineral reserves, largely offset by the successful conversion of inferred mineral resources into measured and indicated mineral resources and the acquisition of the remaining 50% interest in the Canadian Malartic complex and the Wasamac project as a result of the Yamana Transaction.

At December 31, 2023 , the Company's inferred mineral resource estimate totalled 33.1 million ounces of gold (411 million tonnes grading 2.50 g/t gold). This represents a 26% (6.8 million ounce) increase in contained ounces of gold compared to the inferred mineral resource estimate a year earlier (see the Company's news release dated February 16, 2023 for details regarding the Company's December 31, 2022 inferred mineral resource estimate).

The year-over-year increase in inferred mineral resources is primarily due to the acquisition of the remaining 50% interest in the Canadian Malartic complex and the Wasamac project as part of the Yamana Transaction as well as an initial underground inferred mineral resource at Detour Lake.

The Company's gold mineral resources as at December 31, 2023 are set out in the table below.

| Operation / Project* | Measured & Indicated | Inferred | | | | Gold Mineral Resources | Gold Mineral Resources | | | | | Contained Gold | Gold Grade | Contained Gold | Gold Grade | | | (000 oz.) | (g/t) | (000 oz.) | (g/t) | | | LaRonde mine | 632 | 3.06 | 286 | 5.67 | | LaRonde Zone 5 | 774 | 2.27 | 1,134 | 3.38 | | LaRonde complex | 1,407 | 2.57 | 1,420 | 3.68 | | Canadian Malartic | — | — | 214 | 0.81 | | Odyssey | 75 | 1.71 | 1,453 | 2.29 | | East Malartic | 731 | 2.04 | 4,480 | 2.12 | | East Gouldie | 244 | 1.56 | 3,331 | 2.29 | | Canadian Malartic complex | 1,050 | 1.88 | 9,477 | 2.12 | | Goldex | 1,646 | 1.64 | 871 | 1.68 | | Akasaba West | 91 | 0.7 | — | — | | Wasamac | 2,173 | 2.43 | 789 | 2.66 | | Detour Lake | 17,955 | 0.77 | 2,717 | 1.05 | | Detour Lake Zone 58N | 534 | 5.8 | 136 | 4.35 | | Detour Lake total | 18,489 | 0.79 | 2,853 | 1.09 | | Macassa | 598 | 8.58 | 1,094 | 9.21 | | Macassa Near Surface | 13 | 6.14 | 28 | 6.62 | | AK deposit | 37 | 6.95 | 52 | 5.69 | | Macassa total | 647 | 8.4 | 1,173 | 8.89 | | Anoki-McBean | 349 | 2.77 | 107 | 3.84 | | Upper Beaver | 403 | 3.45 | 1,416 | 5.07 | | Upper Canada | 722 | 2.15 | 1,863 | 3.11 | | Hammond Reef | 2,298 | 0.54 | — | — | | Aquarius | 1,106 | 1.49 | 14 | 0.87 | | Holt complex | 1,699 | 4.52 | 1,310 | 4.48 | | Amaruq | 1,600 | 3.74 | 623 | 4.65 | | Meliadine | 1,629 | 4 | 2,222 | 6.22 | | Hope Bay | 1,255 | 3.64 | 2,108 | 5.41 | | Fosterville | 1,512 | 4.05 | 1,461 | 4.54 | | Northern Territory | 1,668 | 2.38 | 1,376 | 2.4 | | Kittila | 1,687 | 2.93 | 1.067 | 5.06 | | Barsele (55%) | 176 | 1.27 | 1,005 | 1.98 | | Pinos Altos | 685 | 1.83 | 104 | 1.73 | | La India | 88 | 0.52 | 1 | 0.4 | | Tarachi | 361 | 0.58 | 4 | 0.52 | | Chipriona | 326 | 0.92 | 21 | 0.66 | | El Barqueño Gold | 331 | 1.16 | 351 | 1.13 | | San Nicolás (50%) † | 20 | 0.19 | 10 | 0.13 | | Santa Gertrudis | 563 | 0.91 | 1,433 | 2.36 | | Total Mineral Resources | 43,981 | 1.15 | 33,080 | 2.5 |

| * Ownership of mines and projects is 100% unless otherwise indicated. Where Agnico Eagle's interest is less than 100%, the stated mineral resources reflect the Company's interest. | | † Agnico Eagle has agreed to subscribe for a 50% interest in the San Nicolás project, which will be contributed as study and development costs are incurred and, accordingly, Agnico Eagle's share of the reported MRMR at the San Nicolás project is reported at a 50% level |

The economic parameters used to estimate mineral reserves and mineral resources for all properties are set out below.

Assumptions used for the December 31, 2023 mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates reported by the Company

| Metal Price for Mineral Reserve Estimation* | | | | | Gold (US$/oz) | Silver (US$/oz) | Copper (US$/lb) | Zinc (US$/lb) | | $1,400 | $18 | $3.50 | $1.00 |

| * Exceptions: US$1,300 per ounce of gold used for Detour Lake; US$1,350 per ounce of gold used for Hope Bay and Hammond Reef; US$1,200 per ounce of gold and US$2.75 per pound of copper used for Upper Beaver; and US$1,300 per ounce of gold, US$20.00 per ounce of silver, US$3.00 per pound of copper and US$1.10 per pound of zinc used for San Nicolás. |

(US$/oz) | Silver

(US$/oz) | Copper

(US$/lb) | Zinc

(US$/lb) | | $1,650 | $22.50 | $3.75 | $1.25 |

| * Exceptions: US$1,500 per ounce of gold used for Detour Lake open pit, Northern Territory and Holt complex; US$1,300 per ounce of gold used for Detour Lake Zone 58N; US$1,400 per ounce of gold used for Canadian Malartic, US$1,688 per ounce of gold used for Hope Bay, Santa Gertrudis and Hammond Reef; US$1,667 per ounce of gold used for Upper Canada, El Barqueño; US$1,200 per ounce of gold and US$2.75 per pound of copper used for Upper Beaver; US$1,533 per ounce of gold used for Barsele; US$500 per ounce of gold used for Aquarius, US$22.67 per ounce of silver used for El Barqueño; US$1,687 per ounce of gold used for Anoki-McBean and Tarachi; US$25.00 per ounce of silver used for Santa Gertrudis; and US$1,300 per ounce of gold, US$20.00 per ounce of silver, US$3.00 per pound of copper and US$1.10 per pound of zinc used for San Nicolás. |

| Exchange rates* | | | | | C$ per US$1.00 | Mexican peso per US$1.00 | AUD per US$1.00 | US$ per €1.00 | | $1.30 | MXP18.00 | AUD1.36 | EUR1.10 |

| * Exceptions: exchange rate of CAD$1.25 per US$1.00 used for Upper Beaver, Upper Canada, Holt complex and Detour Lake Zone 58N; CAD$1.11 per US$1.00 used for Aquarius; US$1.00 per EUR $1.15 used for Barsele; and MXP17.00 per US$1.00 used for Tarachi. |