Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) executives used the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call to highlight record financial results, a strengthened balance sheet, and an accelerated organic growth plan that management said could lift annual gold production by 20% to 30% over the next decade.
Record 2025 results and leverage to higher gold prices
CEO Ammar Al-Joundi said 2025 capped “a remarkable year,” with the company meeting production and cost targets while gold prices rose sharply. He noted that while the price of gold increased by $1,700 year-over-year, Agnico Eagle’s cash costs rose by $76 per ounce, which he said meant the company delivered more than 95% of the gold price increase to shareholders.
For the full year, the company produced 3.45 million ounces of gold, exceeding the midpoint of its guidance. Porter said full-year total cash costs and AISC were $979 and $1,339 per ounce, respectively, both slightly above the top end of guidance due to higher royalty costs stemming from an average realized gold price of $3,454—nearly $1,000 per ounce above the company’s guidance assumption. Excluding the impact of higher royalties, Porter said total cash costs would have been $937 per ounce, below the midpoint of guidance.
Porter said Agnico Eagle generated approximately $4.4 billion in free cash flow for 2025 and captured roughly 95% of the increase in gold price and margin expansion.
Debt reduction, cash build, and higher shareholder returns
Management emphasized cash generation translated into balance sheet strength and shareholder returns. Porter said Agnico Eagle repaid about $950 million of debt in 2025 and increased its cash position by $1.9 billion, ending the year with $2.9 billion in cash.
Shareholder returns through dividends and buybacks totaled about $500 million in the fourth quarter and a record $1.4 billion for the full year, Porter said. The company increased its quarterly dividend by 12.5% to $0.45 per share and said it expects to be “more active” on share repurchases at current gold prices. Porter added the company intends to renew its normal course issuer bid in May and increase the purchase limit to as much as $2 billion.
Porter also said the company expects to pay a higher cash tax liability related to the 2025 fiscal year—about $1.3 billion in February—and that it has the cash on hand to fund it. Looking ahead, he said Agnico Eagle returned roughly one-third of free cash flow to shareholders in 2025 and sees potential to increase that to 40% or higher in 2026, depending on gold prices and business needs. In the Q&A, management said it would not rule out a special dividend under a sustained high-price scenario.
Updated guidance and cost outlook
Porter said the company updated guidance and continues to expect stable production over the next three years. He also cited an improved outlook for 2028 versus consensus expectations, supported by a Meadowbank mine-life extension and higher production expected from Canadian Malartic, Fosterville, and Kitikmeot.
For 2026, Agnico Eagle guided to midpoint total cash costs of $1,070 per ounce and AISC of $1,475 per ounce. Porter said about 60% of the expected increase in cash costs versus 2025 is tied to higher royalties (driven by a higher budgeted gold price of $4,500 per ounce) and a stronger Canadian dollar, with the remaining 40% reflecting roughly 4% to 5% inflation and lower-grade mining sequences.
Beginning in 2026, the company will adjust its Nunavut cost reporting to exclude certain payments at Amaruq made to NTI, which Porter said have characteristics similar to mining duties already excluded from cash cost and AISC calculations.
Growth pipeline: Detour, Canadian Malartic, Upper Beaver, Hope Bay, and San Nicolás
Al-Joundi said the company is targeting production of 3.3 million to 3.5 million ounces annually over the next three years, but emphasized longer-term plans to reach more than 4 million ounces annually by the early 2030s. He said the expected step change in production per share around 2030 would be driven by projects largely in jurisdictions where the company already operates, often using existing infrastructure.
Key project updates included:
- Detour Lake: Management described an underground development plan with potential to add 300,000 to 350,000 ounces per year. Al-Joundi said the company added 4.3 million ounces of resources in the high-grade corridor amenable to underground mining and is tripling investment from $100 million to $300 million, targeting a go-ahead decision in mid-2027 and potential underground production as early as 2028. Natasha Viljoen added that measured and indicated underground resources are now roughly 6 million ounces, with another 6 million ounces inferred, and said the company is evaluating options that could include higher milling capacity or a larger underground scenario.
- Canadian Malartic Complex: Management said the “fill-the-mill” strategy could add 400,000 to 500,000 ounces per year. Al-Joundi said Agnico Eagle has added 9 million ounces of reserves since its last technical update. Dominic Godin said the first production from East Gouldie is expected in the current quarter and that the first shaft remains on track for commissioning in 2027. He also said the company is evaluating additional feed sources including the Marban open pit, Wasamac underground, and a second shaft, with targeted first production by 2033. Exploration executive Guy Gosselin said Marban had an initial reserve declaration of 1.58 million ounces (52 million tons at 0.95 g/t) and that an updated Marban study is planned for the end of 2026.
- Upper Beaver: Al-Joundi said Upper Beaver is expected to produce over 200,000 ounces per year. Viljoen said the ramp is ahead of schedule and shaft sinking began in the fourth quarter, reaching 155 meters by year-end. The company increased planned investment from $200 million to $300 million to accelerate work, with a goal to bring production forward to 2030 and a mid-2027 project sanction target.
- Hope Bay: Management said it is working on a study supporting a 400,000 to 425,000 ounce per year operation, with a 46% increase in inferred mineral resources primarily from Patch Seven. Godin said the updated study is expected in May, and during Q&A he indicated capital costs are expected to be around $2 billion, with the company preparing the site and progressing engineering. Management also discussed an additional roughly $300 million of capital beyond current 2026 guidance if the project is approved, and said it has permits to spend that initial amount, largely tied to procurement and ramp development timed to barge seasons.
- San Nicolás: Al-Joundi said the company continues to make progress and hopes to have permits “shortly.” In Q&A, he said Agnico Eagle would consider buying Teck’s 50% interest if it created value per share.
Exploration results and M&A stance
Gosselin said Agnico Eagle had more than 120 drill rigs active in 2025, completed nearly 1.4 million meters of drilling, and aims to exceed 1.5 million meters in 2026. He reported year-end 2025 reserves of 55.4 million ounces (up 2.1%), measured and indicated resources of about 47 million ounces (up nearly 10%), and inferred resources of about 42 million ounces (up 15.5%).
On M&A, Al-Joundi declined to comment on whether Agnico Eagle would tender shares into a third-party offer involving “Floran,” but said the company views acquisitions as a capital allocation decision focused on per-share value creation. He emphasized Agnico Eagle is “not interested in just getting bigger,” and said the company’s interest in external opportunities is often driven by exploration upside.
About Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM)
Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) is a Canadian-based senior gold producer headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production and reclamation of gold-bearing properties. Agnico Eagle pursues both greenfield and brownfield exploration to expand its resource base and operates a portfolio of producing mines and development projects to generate long-life gold production.
Its core business activities span the full mining lifecycle: grassroots and advanced-stage exploration, prefeasibility and feasibility studies, mine construction, underground and open-pit mining, ore processing and metal recovery, and post-mining reclamation and closure.
