The Kittila Mine is a gold mine is situated 50 km northeast of Kittila, Finland. The deposit is situated on the Lapland Greenstone belt in the Svecofennian geological province. The open pit and underground operation has been in production since 2008.
The Kittila Mine operates both open pit and underground. 3.3 Mt will be mined as open pit and 22.6 Mt will be mined underground, five years after open pit mining commences. Stopes are 25 m high, mined as either longitudinal longhole or transverse longhole, mined as primaries and secondaries, and employing pastefill, cemented rockfill, and/or rockfill. Combined throughput is planned for 3,000 tpd.
| Classification | Tonnes (‘000 t) | Grade (g/t) | Ounces (‘000 oz) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reserve | 25,961 | 4.82 | 4,025 |
| Resource (M+I) | 20,550 | 2.19 | 1,445 |
| Inferred | 5,350 | 3.42 | 588 |
Kittila contains a substantial Reserve of 4.0 Moz. While a LOM plan has not been included in the Technical Report, using the 3,000 tpd designed throughput hints at a mine life in excess of 20 years. Using the average grade of 4.82 g/t, an annual ounce throughput may be estimated at 170 koz. At an operating cost of $77.07/t, each tonne of ore at the average Reserve grade provides $54.33 in cash flow, approximately US$59M/year. A further 1.4 Moz Resource is stated, although its grade at 2.19 g/t is lower than both the open pit cutoff of 2.21 g/t and the underground cutoff of 3.31-3.86 g/t. However, an opportunity exists to revisit the Reserve estimate, since US$848/oz is substantially lower than the current price of gold, the project may receive a positive increase.
The information presented above does not constitute investment advice. This is a summary from the NI43-101 Technical Report effective Oct 14, 2012 (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.