North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. Sept. 16 provided an update on exploration drilling at its Amaruq gold project in Nunavut, including upgraded resources for the Whale Tail and IVR deposits.

As a result of drilling through the first half of 2016, the overall mineral resources at Amaruq increased by 13 percent.

This project now hosts an inferred mineral resource of 3.71 million ounces of gold in 19.4 million metric tons grading 5.97 grams per gold. This represents an increase of 432,000 oz. of gold compared to the end of 2015.

In addition, the first phase of 2016 drilling expanded the IVR deposit by 319 percent, confirming the V zone as a potential second source of open-pit ore.

The IVR deposit now contains 3.9 million metric tons of inferred resource grading 6.84 g/t (852,000 oz.) gold, which is an increase of 649,000 oz. since the beginning of the year. The IVR deposit contains 549,000 oz. of gold within the overall open pit mineral resources.

The majority of IVR resources are found in the V Zone, which has been traced to 542 meters below surface and remains open at depth.

The total open pit mineral resources at Amaraq increase by 33 percent, to 13.6 million metric tons of inferred resources averaging 5.53 g/t (2.42 million oz.) gold, since the beginning of the year.

"In just a short period of time, we have seen Amaruq advance from a grassroots discovery to a significant development project with 3.7 million ounces of gold resources," said Agnico Eagle CEO Sean Boyd. "We anticipate an updated mineral resource estimate in February 2017, and Amaruq is expected to provide a new source of ore for the Meadowbank mill starting in 2019."

-SHANE LASLEY