Located in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, about 2,600 kilometers northwest of Toronto, the Meadowbank mine is Agnico Eagle’s largest gold producer, with 1.8 million ounces of gold in proven and probable reserves since the open pit began in early 2010.

Meadowbank completes all of their optimization and design work in-house and regularly performs, multi-scenario economic analyses ensuring they achieve the best results, both accurately and efficiently. Pit design plays an important role in improving Meadowbank’s productivity. In 2013, Meadowbank’s gold production was far higher than expected as a result of creating multiple designs for different scenarios to enhance their operations and productivity.

Meadowbank works with Dassault Systèmes mine planning apps and is supported by its training services.

Stephane Frechette, Engineering Assistant Superintend says: “Working together, we surpassed last year’s production targets. We provided a strong mine plan that we’ve been able to also surpass with clear planning for the mine operation.”

As a result of the training, Meadowbank is now able to perform faster, better optimized adjustments to pit shells and pit designs by their in-house design teams. The staff has gained confidence in their tactical mine  planning and scheduling, and now evaluates various scenarios before defining their long-term plans.

Read the rest of the story by downloading the Agnico Eagle Meadowbank case study.

On the web: 3DS.com/natural-resources/