Monday, January 14, marked the tenth anniversary of the first gold pour at our Kittilä mine. They celebrated this milestone with coffee and cake, in traditional style, at an event attended by some of Agnico Eagle’s management team members from Toronto.

Over the past decade, the Kittilä mine has cast 2,203 gold bars. By the end of last year, the mine had produced 1,571,444 ounces of gold. That’s something to celebrate!

During the celebration Mine Manager, Tommi Kankkunen, was pleased to have seen a photo of our first gold bar. Those at the party also had the opportunity to enjoy Health, Safety and Security Superintendent, Pasi Kreivi’s, relating his memories of the exciting times when the mineral processing plant was being commissioned.

Many were, of course, interested to hear what had happened to the first gold bar, which weighed slightly over three kilos. The answer? “It was melted in February 2009, and the first, full-sized bar with the hallmark KT1, weighing about 25 kilograms, was poured from it. It was then sent to Central Europe. Some of it came back in the form of grains that were made into jewelry by a local goldsmith. These were given out as gifts,” Pasi explained.

Speaking at the anniversary celebration, Yvon Sylvestre, Senior Vice-President for Operations, Canada & Europe, congratulated everyone on reaching this great milestone and expressed his wish to see as many of them as possible at celebrations to mark the next anniversaries, in ten and twenty years’ time.