LaRonde Complex in northwestern Quebec is comprised of the LaRonde mine and the LaRonde Zone 5 mine. (Image courtesy of Agnico Eagle Mines | Flickr.)
Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX, NYSE: AEM) tops our list of Canadian miners by market value at $81.9 billion (US$59.8 million) at press time. Agnico operates the country’s biggest gold mines by output: Detour Lake and Canadian Malartic.
The company attributed this year’s first quarter net income of $815 million to the higher gold price relative to a year ago, strong performance at Canadian Malartic, LaRonde, Macassa, and at its Nunavut operations; and strong free cash flow.
“Our work to control costs…coupled with a favourable gold price environment, has resulted in record operating margins,” Agnico’s President and CEO Ammar Al-Joundi said in a release. “We will remain laser focused on cost control and capital discipline. Our updated three-year production guidance forecasts stable production at peer leading costs.”
Agnico’s O3 buy
Agnico completed the acquisition of explorer O3 Mining in March in an all-cash deal worth $204 million. O3’s main Marban Alliance project is just northeast of Canadian Malartic.
The $1-billion initial capital cost underground development at the Detour Lake mine in Ontario is ongoing, with exploration drilling defining potentially mineable areas.
At the Upper Beaver gold-copper advanced exploration project in northeastern Ontario, the box cut for the exploration ramp is completed and the sinking of the exploration shaft targeted for this year’s fourth quarter.
In Mexico at San Nicolás, a joint venture with Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK), a feasibility study is expected this year.
In July, Agnico’s second tranche investment in Foran Mining (TSX: FOM; US-OTC: FMCXF) closed, giving it a 13.5% stake in the developer, which holds the McIlvenna Bay copper-zinc-gold-silver project in Saskatchewan.
Wheaton Precious Metals
Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX: WPM) is in second spot by market cap at $56 billion and sixth in net income at $529.14 million. Wheaton’s streaming financing model offers upfront capital to mining companies, while the company secures the right to buy a portion of the future production at a predetermined price.
Last year, Wheaton booked a record $1.28 billion in revenue, with the fourth quarter reaching a record of $381 million. The company forecasts production this year to reach 600,000 to 670,000 gold-equivalent ounces.
Barrick income leader
Barrick Mining (TSX: ABX; NYSE: B) leads our list of Canadian miners by net income at US$3 billion and is third by market value at $50.1 billion.
The miner, which dropped “Gold” from its name in May to reflect a shift towards copper, produced 758,000 oz. gold and 44,000 tonnes of copper in the first quarter. That’s down 19% from the 940,000 oz. gold it produced in the same period last year, while copper production increased 10%.
Barrick’s Loulo-Gounkoto mine in Mali has made headlines this year amid a tax dispute with the country’s military junta, which detained company executives last year, appointed an administrator to restart operations and seized around US$117 million of gold in July.
CEO Mark Bristow said then that Barrick remains committed to Mali even as it deals with “extraordinary and unprecedented challenges.” The company is pursuing legal action through the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
“The ICSID process provides the legal certainty and international oversight necessary to resolve this dispute definitively in accordance with law and our contractual rights,” Bristow said.
Barrick’s April feasibility study for the Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan outlined a 40-year mine with a net present value of US$5.5 billion and initial capital costs of US$5.6 billion to US$6 billion in the first phase. Its annual output is forecast at 500,000 oz. of gold and 335,000 tonnes of copper.
Teck Resources
Teck Resources is fifth on our list of market capitalizations at $28 billion, following the sale last year of its Elk Valley steelmaking coal business to Glencore (LSE: GLEN), Nippon Steel and South Korea’s POSCO, which moved the company towards a pure-play copper focus.
Teck is advancing such copper project developments as the ramp up at Quebrada Blanca stage two in Chile, the Zafranal advanced development project in Peru, as well as the 20-year mine life extension at the Highland Valley mine in British Columbia.
Kinross Gold (TSX: K) takes sixth spot on the list with a market cap of $26.4 billion, and third by net income at $949 million. Tailwinds for Kinross include sustained gold prices that helped it more than double free cash flow to $1.34 billion in 2024 and mill ramp-up at its Tasiast mine in Mauritania.
First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) is in seventh spot with a market cap of $20.8 billion, though its net income has collapsed due to the closure of its Cobre Panama copper mine. The company has shifted its copper focus to the Sentinel and Kansanshi mines in Zambia, which produced 46,361 tonnes and 46,544 tonnes in the first quarter, respectively.
