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LaRonde Zone 5 Mine

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Summary

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Gold
  • Silver
  • Copper
  • Zinc
Mining Method
  • Longitudinal retreat
  • Transverse open stoping
  • Longhole open stoping
Backfill type ... Lock
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe LaRonde Zone 5 mine (LZ5) is part of the LaRonde Complex.

LZ5 is located on the Bouquet and Ellison properties and consists of the underground mining operations that are accessed by ramp from the LZ5 portal, located approximately 3 kilometres west of the Penna Shaft.

The ore is processed in the LaRonde Zone 5 processing facility (formerly Lapa mine circuit) and the LaRonde processing plant. LZ5 shares infrastructure with the LaRonde mine but also has dedicated infrastructure, including a backfill plant.

In 2025, Agnico Eagle Mines completed modifications to the LZ5 processing facility at LaRonde to accommodate AK deposit ore (Macassa complex), with the permit amendment expected in Q1 2026 and trucking and processing now planned to begin in Q2 2026.

Effective December 31, 2025, the Company redefined its operating segments, combining the LaRonde mine and LZ5 into the LaRonde Complex segment, and restated comparative information to conform with the revised presentation.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
The LaRonde Complex (which includes the LaRonde mine and the LaRonde Zone 5 mine) is 100% owned and operated by the Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • VMS

Summary:

Deposit Type
The Doyon-Bousquet-LaRonde(DBL) mining camp is one of Canada’s largest VMS districts (Mercier-Langevin, Dubé and Blanchet, et al. 2017). The mineralization on the Property has been well documented by various researchers and is recognized as comprised of world-class, gold-rich VMS deposits formed in a submarine back-arc basin or submarine arc crust. Like other VMS-type deposits, the LaRonde Complex’s lenses were formed mainly by sulphide precipitation from hydrothermal fluids on an Archean seafloor and by sulphide replacement in the footwall below the lenses.

Two deposits styles are recognized on the Property:

• Gold-rich base metal massive sulphide lenses (LaRonde Penna, Bousquet No. 2-Dumagami), which represent the exhalative part of a VMS-type system above the seafloor.

• Gold-rich vein stockworks and sulphide disseminations (Bousquet No. 1-LZ5 and Ellison); which represent the sub-seafloor stockwork and replacement-style VMS-type system (feeder zone) into permeable (i.e., fragmental) facies in volcanic rocks such as breccia, volcanic tuff, pyroclastic unit, etc.

Mineralization
The LZ5 horizon consists of a four-to-30 metres thick horizon of disseminated to stringer sulphide mineralization containing 5% to 20% pyrite and traces of chalcopyrite with rare millimetre-wide grains of visible gold. The LZ5 horizon has a large geological footprint and has been estimated to contain a mass of more than 26 million tonnes. The LZ5 horizon can be followed over 900 metres of east-west strike length over the Bousquet property and another 400 metres on the Ellison property for a total strike length of 1,300 metres. LZ5 has been traced vertically for almost 1,000 metres showing a steep dip to the southwest. In an enlarged area of LZ5, there is gold enrichment near the margins of the economic envelope. LZ5 includes two high grade portions named Zone 5 Footwall and Zone 5 hanging wall.

Mineralized zones at LaRonde Zone 5 (former Bousquet Shaft #1)
The gold-bearing zones at LZ5 are lenses or stringers of disseminated through semi-massive, locally massive aggregates of fine to coarse pyrite with traces of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite. Local traces of different metallic minerals such as sphalerite, galena, bornite, telluride and native gold can be observed. These zones vary in size from 150,000 tonnes up to 26 million tonnes (i.e., the geological and mineralized envelope of Zone 5). The mineralization in the vicinity of LZ5 occurs along five distinct mineralized horizons named Zones 1 to 5 (from south to north). Although the economically mineralized portions of these horizons are restricted to local sulphide-rich lenses, some mineralized horizons can be followed over the Bousquet property.

Zone 1 and Zone 2
Zones 1 and 2 were mined underground using Bousquet Shaft #1, and they consist of narrow, disseminated stringers to semi-massive sulphide lenses. This vein-type mineralization is composed predominantly of pyrite, with minor chalcopyrite-sphalerite and quartz in felsic host rocks. Zone 1 averages 4 m in width and can be followed over more than 300 m east-west as well as at depth. Zone 2 is considered to be a local secondary horizon of mineralization encountered between Zones 1 and 3, and has similar dimensions to Zone 1.

Zone 3FW and Zone 3HW
The Zone 3 horizon is divided into Zone 3FW and Zone 3HW. The ore that has been extracted from gold-rich portions of Zone 3 represents 80% of the tonnes already mined at the Bousquet Shaft #1 (Mercier-Langevin, Hannington, et al. 2011). Zone 3 mineralization has been described as similar to other zones on the Bousquet property (Valliant, Mongeau and Doucet 1982) (Tourigny, et al. 1992). The gold-bearing zone is associated with disseminated stringers through semi-massive, locally massive, aggregates of fine to coarse pyrite with traces of chalcopyrite. The mineralization is hosted by sericitized and sheared andesitic tuff units. Local traces of different metallic minerals such as sphalerite, bornite, rutile, telluride and native gold can be observed.

Immediately underlying Zone 3 is a continuous, garnet-bearing horizon associated with hydrothermal alteration below the lens, as observed elsewhere in the DBL mining camp (e.g., at the Westwood mine and in the 20 North lens at the LaRonde Mine). The mined portion of Zone 3 extends over 600 m strike length (east-west) and approximately 600 m vertically. The thickness of the high-grade (above 4 g/t gold) portion of Zone 3 averages approximately 3 to 5 m but has reached up to 15 m where Zone 3FW and Zone 3HW were mined together.

Zone 5
The Zone 5 lens consists of a 4- to 30-m thick horizon of disseminated to stringer sulphide
mineralization containing 5% to 20% pyrite and traces of chalcopyrite with rare millimetre-wide
grains of visible gold.

The Zone 5 horizon has a very large geological footprint; it has been estimated to have a mass of more than 26 million tonnes and can be followed over 900 m east-west strike length over the Bousquet property, and another 400 m on the Ellison property for a total strike length of 1,300 m. Zone 5 has been traced vertically for almost 1,000 m and it shows a steep dip to the southwest. In an enlarged area of Zone 5, there is gold enrichment near the margins of the economic envelope. Zone 5 includes two higher grade portions named Zone 5 Footwall (5FW) and Zone 5 Hanging wall (5HW).

Zone 4 and Zone 41
The Zone 4 horizon is located 4 to 10 m stratigraphically above Zone 5 and is very similar to Zone 5 in terms of mineralization and lateral extension. However, Zone 4 is narrow, averaging 2 to 4 m in thickness, and so could be considered a satellite horizon of Zone 5. During the 2010-11 drilling campaign, traces of visible gold were observed mainly in Zone 4. Less than 9,000 short tons (8,200 tonnes) have been extracted by underground mining from Zone 4.

Zone 41 refers to a narrow horizon similar to Zone 4, located above Zone 4. This horizon has not been described previously due to its low grade (± 1-2 g/t gold), however, marginally economic material has been mined locally.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

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EV - Electric
AV - Autonomous

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

Effective December 31, 2025, the Company redefined its operating segments to reflect changes in how management evaluates the LaRonde mine and LZ5. These operations have been combined into the LaRonde Complex segment, and comparative information has been restated to conform with the revised presentation.
CommodityUnits2024202320222021202020192018
Gold oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 59,830 18,620
Silver koz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 12 2
Copper t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Zinc t  ....  Subscribe
All production numbers are expressed as payable metal.

Operational metrics

Metrics20252024202320222021202020192018
Daily ore mining rate 1,940 t
Daily milling rate  ....  Subscribe
Daily milling capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Tonnes milled  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 869,568 t 224,643 t
Daily processing rate  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 2,384 t 1,940 t
Daily processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 2,000 t 2,000 t
^ Guidance / Forecast.

Production Costs

CommodityUnits2024202320222021202020192018
Credits (by-product) Gold USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe -3 / oz   -1 / oz  
Cash costs Gold USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 689 / oz   698 / oz  
Total cash costs Gold USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 725 / oz   733 / oz  
Total cash costs Gold USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 722 / oz **   732 / oz **  
** Net of By-Product.

Operating Costs

Currency2024202320222021202020192018
Total operating costs ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Mine Financials

Units2024202320222021202020192018
Sustaining costs M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 6.2   3.1  
Capital expenditures M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 9   24.5  
Revenue M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 80.4   21.3  
Gross profit M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 32.3   6.7  

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 7, 2026
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Workforce

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