October 29, 2025
The 2025 Agnico Eagle Award was presented to Endomines exploration team at the Fennoscandian Exploration and Mining conference in Levi on October 28.
Kåre Höglund, Exploration Manager at Agnico Eagle Finland, gave the jury’s grounds for the decision: “Endomines has consistently believed in the gold potential of the Hattu schist belt since 1995. Despite the challenges posed by low gold prices seen in the 2010s, the company has shown resilience and long-term thinking by continuing to explore and discover new sites of gold mineralization. Innovative thinking, such as the Karelian Gold Rush competition, systematic mineral exploration, and active communication have strengthened the company’s professional reputation and the social license for its operations.”
Kari Vyhtinen, CEO of Endomines Finland Oyj, expressed his joy regarding the recognition: “I am immensely proud of the Endomines exploration team. Over the past two years, we have achieved significant results: our gold reserves have increased by almost 150% and we are constantly discovering new promising sites. However, this is not the only thing that makes our achievement special. What is also remarkable is the dedication, creativity, and cooperation shown by our team, which makes it all possible.”
“I would like to extend my warmest thanks to Agnico Eagle for this recognition. It is important to all of us that our work is recognized and celebrated. We are building something unique here – a success story created by the innovativeness of our exploration team,” says Kari Vyhtinen.
Warm congratulations to the Endomines mineral exploration team and good luck for the future!
Agnico Eagle Award
The Agnico Eagle Award is presented every two years to a team or individual that has made a significant contribution to gold exploration or the development of gold mining and gold ore processing in Finland, Sweden or Norway. The recognition is presented at the Fennoscandian Exploration and Mining conference in Finland.
The award is granted in recognition of a gold discovery that has led to mining activity, research activities to develop new mineral exploration methods and concepts, the development of new ore extraction innovations, or the development of new metallurgical methods for gold ore processing. The winner is selected by a five-member jury consisting of experts in mineral exploration, mining, and ore processing.
Previous recipients of the Agnico Eagle Award include
Pasi Eilu 2011
Esa Sandberg 2013
Reijo Anttonen 2015
Heikki Niskavaara 2017
Thorbjörn Grahn, Jan-Åke Unée, and Eric Sjölund 2019
Jukka Nieminen and Rupert Recourses Exploration Team 2023