Agnico Eagle Output Falls to 814,012 Ounces as Costs Near Top of Guidance
Key Facts
Agnico Eagle said gold production was 814,012 ounces in the third quarter of 2026, down from 866,936 ounces in the year-earlier period. The company attributed the decline mainly to lower production at its Canadian Malartic and Meadowbank mines. At Canadian Malartic, the decrease was linked to lower throughput and ore grades, while grades fell at Meadowbank. This was partly offset by higher production at Detour Lake and Fosterville. The decline comes as the company expects annual production to finish near the lower end of its full-year range, while per-ounce costs are nearing the upper end of guidance.
The company set its 2026 production range at 3.3 to 3.5 million ounces and said production is likely to be near the lower end. By contrast, it expects total cash costs, guided at $1,020 to $1,120 per ounce, to be near the upper end of the range. The same outlook applies to all-in sustaining costs, guided at $1,400 to $1,550 per ounce. Chief Executive Ammar Al-Joundi said operating performance supported free cash flow generation and that the company “remains on track to achieve its full-year guidance.” The guidance puts cost pressures alongside production in assessing the company’s trajectory for the rest of the year.
Production costs rose to $1,193 per ounce in the third quarter, compared with $963 a year earlier. Total cash costs climbed to $1,133 per ounce from $952, while all-in sustaining costs rose to $1,648 from $1,331. The company attributed the increase in production costs per ounce to higher labor and diesel-related energy costs, higher royalties as gold prices rose, and lower production. It also linked the rise in sustaining costs to higher sustaining capital expenditures and reclamation and administration costs. The company estimates Canadian retaliatory tariffs will add about $5 per ounce to total cash costs, and has included this effect in its cost guidance.
The company’s realized gold price rose to $4,264 per ounce in the third quarter, from $3,476 in the same period a year earlier. Net income increased to $1.353 billion from $1.055 billion. Adjusted net income was $1,324 million, while adjusted basic earnings per share were $2.62. But free cash flow fell to $852 million from $1,190 million, and cash provided by operating activities declined to $1.755 billion from $1.816 billion. The company attributed the lower free cash flow to unfavorable changes in non-cash working capital items and higher spending on development at Hope Bay and Odyssey and on the underground mining project at Detour Lake.
Quarterly capital expenditures rose to $921 million from $644 million a year earlier. The company maintained its 2026 capital spending guidance of $2.605 billion to $2.825 billion, excluding capitalized exploration. In Nunavut, it completed purchases of about 185 million liters of diesel to cover the rest of 2026 through the 2027 shipment. Prices were about 45% above the 2026 budget after hedging, and the company said the purchase reduces its exposure to price volatility and supply disruptions. Fuel adds to the cost pressures the company cited in its quarterly results.
At Canadian Malartic, the company said a rock mass movement occurred in the Barnat pit on July 1, 2026, and mining operations resumed on September 27 after remediation work. It expects the disruption to reduce the mine’s production by 60,000 to 80,000 ounces in the second half of 2026. The reduction could reach 150,000 ounces in each of 2027 and 2028. The company said gold grades at Meadowbank improved in September and are expected to rise further in the fourth quarter of 2026. Underground mining activities at Meliadine also resumed at planned levels.
Cash and cash equivalents were $3.613 billion on September 30, an increase of $149 million from the previous quarter, and net cash was $3.416 billion against total debt of $197 million. After quarter-end, the company increased its unsecured revolving credit facility to $3 billion, with a maturity date of October 28, 2031. It returned $478 million to shareholders during the quarter through dividends and the repurchase of 1,297,940 shares at an average price of $192.60 per share. The total cost of the buybacks was about $250 million. The company expects to return more than 50% of free cash flow to shareholders in 2026 through dividends and share repurchases, based on current spot gold prices and subject to operating needs.
The company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.45 per share for shareholders of record on December 1, 2026, payable on December 15. Management was scheduled to discuss the results on a call on October 29, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The company plans to complete the Hope Bay project in 2029, with gold production expected to begin in 2030 at an annual rate of 400,000 to 435,000 ounces. At the Odyssey project, it completed the first phase of shaft sinking in July 2026, with production through the first shaft planned to begin in the second quarter of 2027. In October 29 trading, Quiver Quantitative reported the stock fell 3.6%, and its close was $176.995 compared with $183.11 in the previous session; the company did not present the decline as a confirmed result of any specific factor.