Statement made on 18 June 2009 by Senator Frank Mahovlich
Hon. Francis William Mahovlich:
Honourable senators, two weeks ago, Agnico-Eagle Mines, a Canadian mining company with over five decades of operating history in Canada, officially opened its first international mine in Finland.
I had the opportunity to go to Finland and participate in the opening ceremonies, along with the Finnish Minister of Trade and Industry and several Finnish government officials and representatives of the Canadian Embassy in Finland.
Agnico-Eagle is a great example of a Canadian company exporting its expertise and strong culture to other countries. With the official opening of its Kittila mine in Finland, Agnico-Eagle now has the biggest single gold reserve at an operating mine in Europe.
Even though it is expanding internationally with another mine set to open in Mexico this summer, the vast majority of Agnico-Eagle's assets are here in Canada. Headquartered in Toronto and in business for over 50 years, it has three operating gold mines in Quebec, where it is the Abitibi region's largest employer with approximately 1,100 full-time workers, along with over 600 contract positions. This has been very important to the economic health of the region, especially with the significant job losses in the forestry sector. Agnico-Eagle has invested over $1 billion in Quebec over the past several years, building new mines and expanding its flagship operation, the LaRonde mine in Cadillac, Quebec. LaRonde currently has the largest gold reserve of any mine in Canada, and the company is using state-of-the-art technology to mine for gold at depths of 2.4 kilometres underground. It is working on an expansion plan at this mine that will see it extract gold at depths of 3 kilometres below surface. I believe the McIntyre gold mine in my hometown was 3 miles deep.
Probably most exciting for Canada is the company's plan to open the first large gold mine in Nunavut early next year. I believe Senator Watt and Senator Adams are very familiar with this venture. The company is in the final stages of completing an $800 million investment to build the Meadowbank mine north of the community of Baker Lake. Part of this large investment includes $70 million to construct a 110-kilometre road from Baker Lake to the mine site. The company also built its own airstrip at the site, updated the port facilities of Baker Lake and has brought cellphone service to the area. The company employs about 200 workers at Meadowbank, including many Inuit, who have received training and have steady, full-time work for the first time.
This also provides a positive economic benefit to the Nunavut economy. When the Meadowbank mine opens early next year, Agnico-Eagle will have over 1,500 employees in Canada, generating approximately $1 billion in annual revenue.
I should also point out that the Canada Pension Plan is the company's second-largest shareholder. The CPP's decision to invest in Agnico-Eagle was most certainly a good one, as it will benefit countless Canadians across the country.
Although Agnico-Eagle has grown dramatically in the last few years, it continues to look for ways to expand. The company is currently working on plans to increase output at three of its four Canadian operations. This will require additional investment of over $250 million and expand output at these projects by 25 per cent.
Agnico-Eagle is a Canadian success story. The company has quietly gone about making significant investments in Canada, building new mines and creating hundreds of permanent and well-paying jobs over many years. At the same time, they are very conscientious in the community affairs of the districts.