LARONDE ZONE 5

Operator: Agnico Eagle Mines Limited

Location: Quebec, Canada

Royalty: 2.0% NSR (all metals)

Term of Royalty: Life of Mine


LaRonde Zone 5 (LZ5) is an underground and open-pit mine, owned and operated by Agnico Eagle Mines Limited. LZ5 is located on the Bousquet property, immediately west of the LaRonde mine complex, in the Rouyn-Noranda mining district, northwestern Quebec, Canada.

LZ5 was approved for development in February 2017 as an underground mining operation and achieved commercial production on June 1, 2018.

LZ5 is mined from underground ramp access. The mining methods are longitudinal retreat with paste-backfill, and transverse open-stoping with paste or unconsolidated backfill. All of the ore is trucked to the surface before being trucked to the LZ5 ore processing plant.

The LZ5 ore processing plant processes 2,000 tonnes of ore per day. The plant consists of a two-stage grinding circuit, and the residual pulp is leached in a conventional carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit to dissolve the balance of the precious metal. A carbon strip circuit recovers the gold from the carbon which is recycled to the leach circuit. LZ5 gold recovery is estimated at 92%.