Earnings Labs

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM)

Q4 2006 Earnings Call· Thu, Feb 22, 2007

$186.04

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the Agnico-Eagle Mines year end 2006 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. If anyone has any difficulties hearing the conference, please press *0 for operator assistance at any time. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded this Thursday, February 22nd 2007 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Sean Boyd, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, Sir.

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

Thank you operator and good afternoon everyone. Welcome to our 2006 fourth quarter and year end conference call. What we’d like to do today is go through the results, obviously, but give you an update on our project and some of the exploration. We have a series of slides for those of you who are on the internet, so we’ll take you through those. Before going into the slides we’ve got several Safe Harbor statements which involve forward looking statements, so please review those when you have a minute. We also have some Safe Harbor statements around the offer which is outstanding for Cumberland resources. Just to start off, I’d like to go through the corporate strategy of the company. It’s been straightforward, it’s been consistent. We’ve moved along in a very disciplined manner. We’ve put ourselves in a position to increase our annual gold output with existing projects, taking it to about 750 ounces by 2009. As you know we’ve got three new goldmines to begin production next year. We’ve also demonstrated our ability to grow our reserve base. We showed this quarter a 19% increase in our reserves to 12.5 million ounces. We are targeting a reserve position within the next 12 months based on drilling at our existing projects of about 14-15 million ounces. As far as acquisitions, again the strategy has been disciplined. It’s been straightforward. Our preferred growth is to look for acquisitions that, from a size point of view are small relative to our size, and we’ve been successful over the last couple of years in building our pipeline in that fashion. As you know in 2005 we completed the acquisition of Riddarhyttan Resources, which gave us the Kittila mine which is under construction. Pinos Altos was closed in 2006 which has given us…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now conduct the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press the star followed by the one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. Your questions will be pulled in the order that they are received. Please ensure you lift a headset if you are suing a speakerphone before pressing any key. One moment please for your first question. Your first question comes from John Bridges of JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

John Bridges

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

Good afternoon Sean, congratulations.

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

John Bridges

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

What are you looking for underneath Bousquet? What’s the model for that?

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

Good afternoon John. What we are looking for is basically another massive sulfite zone. The drilling that we did from the level 215 exploration grip…We basically outlined a massive sulfite zone anywhere between 15-25% of banded massive pyrite with a minor amount of chalical pyrite. In other words the geological model is very similar to LaRonde and Bousquet. Stratographically, this particular zone appears to lie in the known frontier horizon. It’s south of the original Bousquet or LaRonde horizon. We’ve only been able to put in about three diamond drill holes. We’ve traced it over a vertical distance of about 300 meters or so. But right now, we’re at the end of the exploration drive on level 215. So it’s become increasingly difficult to drill. They’re long banana type holes in the neighborhood of about 2,000 meters. So, what we have proposed to do and this has been accepted, is to extend the level 215 exploration grip by about another 400 meters to the west.

John Bridges

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

When did you discover this?

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

We discovered this at the end of the third quarter last year.

John Bridges

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

This sort of thing you were looking for so you didn’t have to do a wrong to a right?

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

Sorry?

John Bridges

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

You were looking to expand the depth potential and then go bigger at depth, weren’t you?

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

No, this was just a routine coverage significantly to the west of LaRonde II. I believe that this was between these two zones and must be in the neighborhood of at least 500 meters if not more.

John Bridges

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

So where would this be served from? Something out of the existing viscid shaft or would this…?

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

Well I mean this is all just arm weaving here John. We don’t really know the size of this thing and even right now, the grades are not economic but just we’re using history. And normally when we have encountered mass sulfite mineralization of this type, there tends to be some sort of body lurking in the background.

John Bridges

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

OK. Good luck.

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · JP Morgan. Please go ahead

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Tony Lesiak of UBS. Please go ahead. (Long pause) Mr. Lesiak your line is open if you would like to ask a question.

Tony Lesiak

Analyst · UBS

Hi, can you hear me?

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

Yes.

Tony Lesiak

Analyst · UBS

Okay great. A couple of questions on the expiration side and reserve resource. Quickly, at Lapa I noticed the grade improvement of about 10%. Was that due to some additional drilling results or any change in geo-statistical assumptions?

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · UBS

Basically drilling results.

Tony Lesiak

Analyst · UBS

OK, so you still might see a great pickup there once you get on the ground and get more confidence?

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · UBS

That will always be the issue at Lapa until we finally start mining.

Tony Lesiak

Analyst · UBS

Okay, so we can estimate that you might see a bit of a pick-up there. And well, we have. One of our issues is that we really haven't got a whole lot of access underground. The drilling that we did do in the last quarter of last year is from the lowest level, I think that was 78 so they are very steep drill holes. So once we get the shaft down and the shaft completed we will be in a much better position to drill in the second half of this year.

Tony Lesiak

Analyst · UBS

Follow-up question on the reserve grade drop at LaRonde, can you explain that?

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · UBS

We combined the LaRonde I and the LaRonde I, that's why there is an overall drop in grade. If you were to calculate from the same way from LaRonde I or the historical way at LaRonde II, the grades would be very similar as in the last year.

Tony Lesiak

Analyst · UBS

Ok because I just looked at the reserve that came up and you still haven't broken out there of your proven probable. And if you look at the grades they were down substantially.

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

When the LaRonde I was checked it was marked (inaudible) speaking. At LaRonde I we're basically mining the gold-ore body. So when each year you extract 240,000 ounces, all the relative gold grading will drop because that's the part of the mine in zinc. That's right. Whereas the lower part we're accessing maneuvering around two prospectives of much higher grade and that grade didn't change.

Tony Lesiak

Analyst · UBS

OK. So there were no zones that were dropped out of the reserve at all?

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

Oh no. No, that's just natural mining.

Tony Lesiak

Analyst · UBS

OK. And just if you could give us a breakdown of the depth in the underground, maybe just in percentages for Kittila?

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · UBS

In terms of ounces we'd be looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 850,000 ounces in the open pit and the remainder would be underground.

Tony Lesiak

Analyst · UBS

OK, great. Thanks very much.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from Mark Smith of Dundee Securities. Please go ahead.

Mark Smith

Analyst · Dundee Securities. Please go ahead

Yeah, hi. Just a really quick question. On taxes…I'm just wondering, could you give me an indication of what you're looking at? Will the tax rate go forward and how much you have left that will be applicable?

David Garofalo

Analyst · Dundee Securities. Please go ahead

Yeah, our expected tax rate in 2007 will be about 40% and I say about 2/3 of that or sorry about ¾ of that will be differed and will be backed mining duties from cash tax we're going to be paying this year. And we have income pools filled with about $700 million US. So we won't be paying income tax for quite a while but we are assessable on a mining duty.

Mark Smith

Analyst · Dundee Securities. Please go ahead

OK. So basically your forward it's going to be about 75% differed.

David Garofalo

Analyst · Dundee Securities. Please go ahead

Yeah. At least for the next few years while we use up the income tax pools.

Mark Smith

Analyst · Dundee Securities. Please go ahead

Yeah but then you've got a new pool coming from the new construction, right?

David Garofalo

Analyst · Dundee Securities. Please go ahead

We do and that will mitigate some of those mining duties, but we will still be paying cash money duties.

Mark Smith

Analyst · Dundee Securities. Please go ahead

OK. Is there any pools that you picked up with the Cumberland acquisition that are applicable inside of the Northwest territories or some that are in the Northwest territories?

David Garofalo

Analyst · Dundee Securities. Please go ahead

Well generally those resource pools get streamed. There might be some hard assets that tend not to get streamed or that don't get streamed but I think, I suspect that the vast majority are tax pools or cash pools so they will be streamed against the Meadowbank asset.

Mark Smith

Analyst · Dundee Securities. Please go ahead

OK. Alright, thanks very much Ted.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from David Stein of Sprott Securities. Please go ahead.

David Stein

Analyst · Sprott Securities. Please go ahead

Hi guys, actually my question has been answered already so I'll let you keep going.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Steve Butler of Canaccord Adams. Please go ahead.

Steve Butler

Analyst · Canaccord Adams. Please go ahead

Good afternoon guys. You had said your mine set costs were $63 million Canadian. Can you comment as to how much accelerated development does that go into your cost per fund and (inaudible)?

David Garofalo

Analyst · Canaccord Adams. Please go ahead

The breakdown would be roughly $2.5-3 million and $1.5 per ton of the accelerated development that we experience.

Steve Butler

Analyst · Canaccord Adams. Please go ahead

OK. And was it correct in the, I missed part of the comments Sean or my dyslexia just set in more fully, is it $17 million of the capitalized of the $40 million that will be capitalized? $17 million?

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

Roughly, yep.

Steve Butler

Analyst · Canaccord Adams. Please go ahead

Another question, as your gold recovery dropped, I mean a little bit, given the little bit bump in grade I would have expected recoveries to be slightly higher and I think we're targeting ultimately 94% of reserve basins. But can you comment there what happened? I mean it's not a big deal…

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

Uh, we just cut some minor issues in the mill. We had some problems with our on-screen analyzers so we were running manual or by the seat of our pants till we got the unit repaired. It's the original one and it's no longer in production so spare parts were hard to come by. So that was the main reason, but it's up and running again.

Steve Butler

Analyst · Canaccord Adams. Please go ahead

OK. Did you guys comment, I know it’s preemptive, on your completing and releasing Pinos Altos, but what are your thoughts on through-put rates for Pinos Altos?

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

Ah, we are currently based on the scoping study. We've examined 3,000, and the feasibility we have now used the 4,000 as a parameter but now with a significant increase in the overall tonnage we're evaluating other tonnage fro through-puts. But the 4,000 is about the median that we used.

Steve Butler

Analyst · Canaccord Adams. Please go ahead

OK. Thanks very much guys.

Operator

Operator

You're next question comes from Catherine Gignac of Wellington West. Please go ahead.

Catherine Gignac

Analyst · Wellington West. Please go ahead

Hi Steve jumped the gun. He asked the same thing I was going to on Pinos Altos. Umm spending $26 million for the (inaudible), it's intriguing and I'm also intrigued with you being in Mexico? Could you fill us in a little bit more in terms of the justification for that because you've already got a large land package? What you see for the potential there going forward?

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · Wellington West. Please go ahead

The ground that we picked up is basically, we have a theory of a collapsed caldera and so the ground we picked up, we feel, is an extension of the caldera. So it's a little of arm waving Catherine, but we never know. Also it's in a favorable background within a stones throw of other deposits so the ground was available and so we picked it up. And in terms of strategy going forward, well naturally we are actively examining other situations in the Mexico, predominantly Northern Mexico, maybe Sean you want to mention some more thoughts?

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

The way we looked at putting the company together is that when we decide to go into a part of the world, we take a long term view. Like we've done in Quebec where we've been mining and been involved there for over 30 years. So likely over time we would like to build off of our base in Pinos Altos. And the first way to do that is try to get some more exploration grounds, to try to get our exploration teams to go to work. One of the ways that I don't think is well acknowledged from perspective is our ability, our team's ability to find gold. They certainly demonstrated that ability at LaRonde, at Lapa, at Goldex, at Kittila in the early stages. Our focus is part of a strategy not only to build a pipeline of projects, but also to build a very consistent, focused exploration programs together in and around our major assets.

Catherine Gignac

Analyst · Wellington West. Please go ahead

And you have done that very well. Congratulations on a good quarter and a good year.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from David Christie of TD Newcrest. Please go ahead.

David Christie

Analyst · TD Newcrest. Please go ahead

Good afternoon guys. Just quickly, and more on Pinos Altos. Of the $26 million how much is getting spent on more grassroots exploration drilling? Other than more intel?

David Garofalo

Analyst · TD Newcrest. Please go ahead

If you're looking, what we did last year we and the board fixed a $23 million budget. That budget will be finished in June and the program was to drill under-budget at 51,000 meter. And the program was 25% and was for outside of the system.

David Christie

Analyst · TD Newcrest. Please go ahead

Yeah, so the 25% of this year is what you're going to spend on outside?

David Garofalo

Analyst · TD Newcrest. Please go ahead

Yes.

David Christie

Analyst · TD Newcrest. Please go ahead

OK. And what about at Kittila? What are you spending there?

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · TD Newcrest. Please go ahead

Ah Kittila? We're spending $6 million there and I would think about half of that would be outside of the mining lease and about half of that would be within the mining lease.

David Christie

Analyst · TD Newcrest. Please go ahead

OK. This is really the first time you've stepped out of either project?

Ebe Scherkus

Analyst · TD Newcrest. Please go ahead

Yes. David. With, as Sean mentioned, we hired an exploration manager and we currently have three drills on the exploration program at Kittila exploring to the North. So they are following up on some of the geo-chemical anomalies we just found. Also, we're drilling deeper down, by deeper down I mean 100 meters at the base to be able to follow up on some of the values that we encountered. Drills are naturally production oriented within the mine lease to close in some of the gaps for production purposes.

David Christie

Analyst · TD Newcrest. Please go ahead

Perfect. Thanks a lot, guys.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Mike Jalonen of Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead.

Michael Jalonen

Analyst · Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead

Well, hi Sean, guys. I was just wondering, the slide that shows your CapEx, you have a breakdown there of Pinos Altos there and Meadowbank potential, but what about the other vein, the projects for ’07, ’08, 09? Is there a breakdown for them? Or a rough breakdown?

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, in the December 12th press release, Mike, for ’07, provided a detailed breakdown by project of the 336 base CapEx for this year.

Michael Jalonen

Analyst · Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead

OK. ‘08’s in there too?

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

I can give you all the other numbers later if you’d like.

Michael Jalonen

Analyst · Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead

OK. Thank you.

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

Yeah.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, if there are any other additional questions at this time, please press the * followed by the 1. (Operator Instructions). Mr. Boyd, there are no further questions at this time. Please continue.

Sean Boyd

Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Operator and thank you everyone. I know it’s a busy day and a busy couple of weeks as everybody’s reporting and we’ll let you go and thanks for participating.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call for today. Thank you for participating and please disconnect your lines.