The LaRonde Complex is a gold mine situated between Val-d’Or and Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada. This area has been mined since the late 1930s as part of the Doyon-Bousquet-LaRonde mining camp within the wider Cadillac mining district. By the end of 2022, the Property produced 78.2 Mt ore at a grade of 4.63 g/t for 10.8 Moz of payable gold. The deposit is situated on Abitibi Greenstone along the Larder Lake-Cadillac Fault, stretching from Larder Lake, Ontario to Val-d’Or, Quebec.
The LaRonde Complex operates underground, comprising of the LaRonde Mine and LZ5 (formerly Bousquet). The ore is processed at the LaRonde and LZ5 (formerly Lapa) MIlls, with a combined 8,200 tpd processing capacity. Excess mill capacity is used to process ore from Goldex Mine. Ore is extracted using longhole mining, with special attention paid to the geotechnical sequence needed to manage high stresses when mining at depth. This involves the use of pastefill and pillarless mining, proceeding from the centre out to the peripheries, rather than the more productive checkerboard sequence of primaries and secondaries. While Resources and Reserves are stated in gold, LaRonde is a gold-silver-copper-zinc deposit, hence it is more appropriate to use an NSR $/t cutoff rather than a g/t gold cutoff. A range of cutoff values are applied to the different costs associated with mining at various depths.
| LaRonde | LZ5 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Depth | C$/t-milled | Area | C$/t-milled |
| Near Surface | 74.85 | <750 m | 79.97 |
| 1500 m | 100.55 | >750 m | 147.59 |
| 3000 m | 214.30 | ||
The current LOM plan averages 7,361 tpd until 2027, after which production and ounces begin to wind down. As a current producer, economic analysis is not required under NI43-101 guidelines. However, a number of estimates may be made using the LOM Plan, OPEX, CAPEX, and C$1,938/oz information provided in the Technical Report. The focus on higher grade towards end of mine life ensures positive cash flow amidst declining throughput. CAPEX spending is focused on the high throughput period, reducing after 2027. The LaRonde Complex is estimated to have a pre-tax undiscounted cash flow of C$1.3B and a pre-tax NPV5% of C$835M.
| Classification | Tonnes (‘000 t) | Grade (g/t) | Ounces (‘000 oz) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reserve | 22,699 | 4.42 | 3,225 |
| Resource (M+I) | 15,733 | 2.41 | 1,219 |
| Inferred | 15,317 | 3.47 | 1,708 |
The LaRonde Complex contains a substantial Reserve of 3.2 Moz and M+I Resource of 1.2 Moz. Headwinds remain in converting Resource to Reserve as challenges increase with mining at depth, resulting in ever-increasing cost. Currently M+I Resources at depth grade just 2.00 g/t although Inferred material is grading better at 4.76 g/t, providing a glimmer of hope that increased drilling may move higher grading Inferred Resources into M+I.
The information presented above does not constitute investment advice. This is a summary from the NI43-101 Technical Report effective Dec 31, 2022 (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.