Former LaRonde General Managers help celebrate 5 million ounces: From left to right: Paul-Henri Girard (retired), Daniel Racine (now Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer at Yamana Gold Inc.), Alain Cossette (now Senior Director, Project Development Canada and Europe at Agnico), Carol Plummer (now Vice President, Project Development USA & Latin America at Agnico), Ebe Scherkus (now Chairman of the Board at Stornoway Diamond Corporation), Daniel Pare, current LaRonde General Manager, Christian Provencher (now Vice President Canada at Agnico), Sean Boyd, Agnico’s Vice-Chair & CEO, and Jim Nasso, Agnico’s Chairman of the Board.
On Friday June 17th Agnico Eagle’s LaRonde mine proudly celebrated a historic milestone – their five millionth ounce of gold produced. The celebration included a full-day open house at the mine site for employees and their families.
The LaRonde mine is Agnico Eagle’s flagship operation and it is also the first of our sites to achieve this milestone.
"This is an achievement of which we can all be very proud," said Daniel Paré, General Manager at LaRonde. "It is the result of the collective contributions of many individuals, beginning with our founders, whose vision and determination have made the remarkable and world-class deposit we have now possible."
All told, it is a milestone that was 30 years in the making — one that took millions of hours of hard work and more than $807 million dollars of investment. A total of 225 kilometres of galleries had to be created, and 42 million tonnes of ore processed, in order to produce those five million ounces of gold!
As a former general manager at LaRonde himself, Christian Provencher, Vice-President, Canada, is familiar with the challenging nature of the mine and the effort it took to succeed.
"We have risen to each challenge and over time have continued to progress by pushing past the limits we we were faced with," Christian said. "I believe that with the exceptional quality of our people, with their expertise and determination, we now have everything we need to find and produce another five million ounces."
In keeping with tradition, Agnico Eagle celebrated this milestone with employees and their families. A number of interactive and informative activities were organized at the mine site including underground tours and visits to the concentrator and other surface facilities. There were information booths and equipment demonstrations as well as large machinery on display.
A formal event took place late in the afternoon where Agnico Eagle’s CEO, Sean Boyd, and Chairman of the Board, Jim Nasso both spoke and congratulated the LaRonde team. A commemorative video was also played and the event concluded with a concert performed by "The Retros" – a band consisting of former and current Agnico Eagle employees, including: Ebe Scherkus, Marc Legault, George Dikho and Jean Legault.
Five million congratulations and a big thank you to the LaRonde team!