Gold Production

2024 was a fantastic year for Ontario’s gold producers, with gold at all-time highs and major expansion projects underway. With C$6.5 billion worth of gold production in 2023, Ontario maintained its position as the leading gold-producing Canadian province, responsible for 43% of Canada’s total gold production – up from 41% the year prior. “Ontario welcomed two new producing mines in the summer of 2024 as IAMGOLD’s Côté Gold and Equinox Gold’s Greenstone Gold mines started production. The province has also seen great exploration success, with Ontario being ranked the number one jurisdiction in 2023 for junior exploration spending in Canada,” shared George Pirie, Ontario’s former Minister of Mines.

While specific production figures for 2024 are not yet available, Ontario remains a leading contributor to Canada’s gold output and gold remains the backbone of the province’s mining sector. 2025 is also shaping up to be another exciting year, with many new mines continuing to ramp up and the potential for yet more mines to come online, namely West Red Lake Gold’s past-producing Madsen mine.

As in recent years, the overarching focus for Ontario’s gold miners has been keeping a handle on rising costs and focusing on operational efficiency. Boosting recovery and milling rates has been a key focus for many, keeping in mind the fact that sky-high gold prices may not last forever. “As companies progress through planning, they are not betting on the gold price staying where it is at the moment. Most companies are remaining pragmatic around new investments in gold whilst still enjoying the benefits of rising prices,” said Ben Charles, partner, Bain & Company.

In Gogama, just north of Sudbury, Côté Gold has the potential to become the largest gold mine in Canada, and with most of the main technical challenges solved, IAMGOLD’s focus is now on optimizing operations. “When online in December, the plant averaged 1,593 t/h, or effectively 106% of nameplate, with a record daily throughput of 42,635 t/d. In November and December, Côté produced 37,000 oz (100%) per month,” shared Renaud Adams, president and CEO, IAMGOLD.

Now that Côté Gold is back on track, IAMGOLD believes there is potential to double production rates in 2025. Additionally, the company will be looking to aggressively drill and infill the neighboring Gosselin zone to incorporate it into a larger mine plan in 2026. “Côté Gold is already among the largest gold deposits in production in Canada and has the potential for further expansion. Our focus is on organic growth; the resource base at Côté Gold has nearly doubled since we started construction, and we are now sitting on a resource of nearly 20 million oz. Our priority is to continue delineating and expanding our resources rather than seeking acquisitions elsewhere,” continued Adams.

Agnico Eagle also has high ambitions for its other producing asset in Ontario – Detour Lake. Despite already being the largest gold mine in Canada with 677,466 oz of gold produced in 2023, Agnico Eagle still sees an opportunity for expansion and has the ambitious goal of eventually boosting gold production to 1 million oz/y by 2030. “One of the challenges at Detour Lake is advancing the exploration work quickly, particularly to the west, where we have observed promising results. While the current NI 43-101 report offers a snapshot of the asset, we believe there is significant untapped potential that has not been identified. We are beginning to excavate an exploration ramp to access the ore body at depth and establish underground drilling platforms by late 2026 or early 2027, which will help us understand the potential of this world-class deposit,” continued Leite.

Like Agnico Eagle, Alamos Gold has also enjoyed a very successful period seeing its valuation increase by 50% over the past year. A major contributor to this growth was the acquisition of Argonaut Gold and its Magino mine in Ontario, which neighbors Alamos Gold’s Island Gold mine. John McCluskey, Alamos Gold’s president and CEO, shared the strategy behind the acquisition: “Historically, we have only made acquisitions when gold prices were low. However, the Argonaut acquisition was an exception, with its share price declining even as gold prices rose. This decline presented a rare opportunity, as Argonaut had over 4 million oz of reserves and about C$1 billion of capital invested in Magino. We acquired Argonaut for an enterprise value of US$727 million and identified US$515 million in total synergies.”

Although Ontario is relatively similar to Australia as a mining jurisdiction, Evolution Mining has demonstrated its ability to run a mine on the other side of the globe, and its success at Red Lake exemplifies Ontario’s appeal to miners everywhere. “We are now four and a half years into our ownership of Red Lake, and we have found working with the local community and various governmental organizations to be smooth and reliable. We have learned a lot about how to operate in the region, and similarly, people have learned how Evolution Mining operates, especially from a safety and environmental standpoint,” continued Conway.

In Ontario’s far west, near the Manitoba border, New Gold spent 2024 stabilizing production at its Rainy River operations: “In 2024 we made excellent progress in the development of the Underground Main Zone, which contains the majority of underground mineral reserves and will be an important source of higher-grade production in the coming years to supplement mill feed from the open pit and the Intrepid Underground Zone. The Underground Main project is on track to commence stoping in the first half of 2025 and ramp up to an underground production rate of approximately 5,500 t/d by 2027,” shared Patrick Godin, New Gold’s president and CEO.

With its two key assets, Rainy River and New Afton in BC, now running smoothly, Godin revealed the company’s next move will likely be a measured one, despite the ongoing spree of acquisitions in the gold space: “A company that has three or four assets that are generating cash flow and with good financial ratios can put in place healthy debt, use part of their cash flow, and have other financing mechanisms such as a revolving credit facility to minimize dilution and ensure that shareholders’ investments are not the last money out. Ideally, for the mine building scenario to work, you need to have more than two producing assets.”