The Detour Lake Mine is a gold mine situated 300 km northeast of Timmins, Ontario, Canada. The deposit is situated on Abitibi Greenstone along the Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone extending from Timmins, Ontario to Destor, Quebec, home of some of the world’s richest gold deposits. The mine produced 1.7 Moz during its first inception (1987 to 1999) as an open pit/underground operation. Production during Detour Gold ownership (2013 to Jan 30, 2020) totalled 3.6 Moz as an open pit mine, now encompassing the historic underground. From Jan 31, 2020 to Dec 31, 2020 under Kirkland Lake Gold (now Agnico Eagle), the operation recovered 517 koz gold.
The Detour Lake Mine currently operates as a surface mine comprising of three pits, Main, West, and North using conventional truck and shovel. Open pit operations are ramping up to a rate of 28 Mtpa by 2025, targeting 500 koz to 1,000 koz per year, totalling 597 Mt ore over 22 years. At a price of US$1,500/oz, Detour Lake Mine generates an after-tax undiscounted cash flow of C$8.4B and 5% discount of C$5.0B. An additional satellite deposit is located underground, Zone 58N, although this is not currently included in the LOM plan.
| Classification | Tonnes (Mt) | Grade (g/t) | Ounces (‘000 oz) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reserve O/P | 596.1 | 0.82 | 15,775 |
| Resource (M+I) O/P | 131.2 | 1.10 | 4,657 |
| Resource (M+I) U/G | 2.9 | 5.80 | 534 |
| Inferred Total | 53.3 | 0.94 | 1,606 |
Detour Lake Mine contains a substantial Reserve of 15.8 Moz. Designed using a gold price of US$1,300/oz, the spatial extents of its Resources and Reserves are conservative. Adjusting gold price to become more closely aligned with increased gold prices will likely expand its Resources and Reserves. As an operating mine, mill recoveries and logistics are well established, hence risks are minimal in these areas. A further opportunity exists, where project value has been assessed using US$1,500/oz; this represents a conservative estimate of gold price and a likely upside exists in actual project value. Detour Lake Mine is a world class deposit, with further potential beyond its long and illustrious pit life.
The information presented above does not constitute investment advice. This is a summary from the NI43-101 Technical Report effective Dec 31, 2020 (INSERT), with commentary from the author. Statements above do not represent the views of Agnico Eagle. If any discrepancies arise, the information contained within the NI43-101 are official and final. For latest depletion data, please refer to the AIF update.