The Agnico full year 2023 results out today, including 2023 exploration results.
So, guidance has been reduced with the continued depletion of the Swan Zone, putting more responsibility on other areas including the Robins Hill / Curie Zones. Can see that coming through in the changes to the Mineral Resource outlines along that trend.
“The Fosterville mine successfully replaced 102% of mining depletion in 2023 with new mineral reserves. The replacement was achieved through infill drilling that, combined with the revision of the mine production plan, resulted in an addition of 289,000 ounces of gold in mineral reserves that has offset 285,000 ounces mining depletion in 2023.”
The interesting part is the resource outline at Robins Hill / Curie has grown significantly and has been extended down-plunge. At least based on the long-section it looks like parts of the 2023 mineral resource is now within ~900m of the lease boundary with S2! Also, the current depth extent of the Robins Hill / Curie mineral resource is now at a similar relative level as the Swan and Cygnet zones over on the Phoenix trend. Not saying that this will necessarily mean the Robins Hill / Curie will turn into a Swan Zone, but it will be worth watching to see if this depth horizon and below similarly translates to ‘better’ mineralisation.
Here is the long section from S2s presentation showing the lease boundary on Agnico's 2021 MR outline / 2022 exploration hightlights:
Copied (approximately!) the lease boundary over to the updated 2023 Agnico long section with the updated Curie trend resource outline...getting closer!
The encouraging aspect is how Agnico’s ‘Robins/Curie’ trend has continued grow with the benefit of additional drilling from underground following on from the initial resource and development decision. When you look back at the early exploration results it was not that dissimilar to what S2 is drilling at Goornong, with wide-spaced holes with variable gold-bearing structures down-plunge of shallow oxide zones.
Ok, we don’t have that luxury at Goornong, but it’s a great start to confirm mineralisation over that distance, and I’m certain Agnico would appreciate the significance in terms of what these 'trends' can potentially deliver off the back of what initially start out as wide-spaced variable intersections.
Looking at the scale and targeted depth horizon from the current Goornong drilling is also useful to keep in mind...below is the Goornong long section from the announcement show at a relative scale to the Angico Fosterville and Robins Hill long section...
