46 www. bus- ex. com JANUARY 10 Treasure Sierra Madre of Mexico's with gold. the key producer to be

Agnico- Eagle Mines Ltd. JANUARY 10 www. bus- ex. com 47 E very successful company is underpinned by a clear growth strategy. For international gold producer Agnico- Eagle Mines Ltd., growth translates into a simple objective: to produce more gold at the lowest possible cost. Since its amalgamation in 1972, the company has produced over 4 million ounces of gold- mostly from the LaRonde mine in Quebec, which holds Canada's largest gold reserves. In recent years the company has demonstrated its ability both to find gold and also to grow its reserves faster than virtually all other intermediate gold producers. The global appetite for the precious yellow metal is insatiable, and Agnico- Eagle aims to feed it with ambitious growth targets. The company has declared an objective of increasing overall reserves to between 20 and 21 million ounces by the end of next year. This means that the race to diversify into new areas of production, identifying and exploiting new deposits, is well under way. Mexico has been in the company's sights for a number of years. With rich geology, low operating costs, political stability and a business- friendly regulatory structure that values the contribution that mining can make to the country's economic development, Mexico is a logical choice for expansion. Pinos Altos is located in the famed Sierra Madre gold belt, 280 kilometers west of Chihuahua, the state capital. Around 60 percent of reserves at Pinos Altos are to be found in the Santo Niño zone, which lies along a regional fault zone containing a number of other known deposits in the area. This Santo Niño zone itself has thicknesses of up to 45 meters in some places over a length of two kilometers and reaches 750 meters into the ground. The property was first acquired in 2006 after encouraging results from an initial drilling campaign. In August 2007 a favorable feasibility study led to the decision to develop the mine commercially. By July of this year almost 140 drill holes had been completed in a major $ 11 million exploration program focusing on expansion of the Santo Niño, Cerro Colorado, Reyna de Plata and Creston Mascota zones. The first drill program began in the spring on the newly discovered Cubiro zone, which lies approximately 10 kilometers northwest of the main Santo Niño pit. Drilling quickly produced encouraging results. By the Treasure Sierra Madre ofthe Mexico's Sierra Madre Mountains are synonymous gold. The Pinos Altos property is now key exploration focus of international gold producer Agnico- Eagle Mines Ltd. and is proving be a glittering prize, Jayne Flannery reports