Gold has rarely been this hot. Prices are at record highs, central banks are loading up, and the world's second-biggest gold producer just made it clear what it plans to do with all of that.
Agnico Eagle is putting about $10 billion into its Ontario mines.
The bulk of the spend lands on two assets in northeastern Ontario. Both have been on the company's growth roadmap for years.
The first is Detour Lake, an open-pit mine near the Quebec border that has been one of Agnico's top producers. The company is tripling its investment there from $100 million to $300 million to speed up an underground expansion.
That add-on is expected to deliver 300,000 to 350,000 ounces of gold a year, with first production as early as 2028. The company says the move could push Detour to one million ounces a year over time.
The second is Upper Beaver, a brand-new mine being built in the Kirkland Lake area. The project is slated to start producing by 2031 and add about 210,000 ounces of gold a year over a 13-year mine life.
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Gold prices are doing the talking. The Iran war, sticky inflation, and central banks loading up on bullion have pushed prices to fresh highs.
Agnico just posted record quarterly earnings on the back of all that. The company kept its 2026 production guidance the same, which left more cash to plow into long-term projects.
Mining companies usually plan around long timelines, because mines take years to permit, build, and ramp. Locking in a $10 billion plan now is a signal that Agnico expects high gold prices to last well into the next decade.
It also reflects a broader shift. Producers spent most of the 2010s under-investing as gold prices flatlined, and this is the first major capital expansion in over a decade.
Agnico's overall capital spending is running between $2.2 and $2.4 billion this year, up from $2.1 billion in 2025. The Ontario plan stretches that budget out through the end of the decade.
The company says it can clear 4 million ounces of gold a year by the early 2030s. That would close the gap with Newmont, the current world leader.
For investors, that turns Agnico from a steady miner into one of the clearest leveraged plays on gold staying high.
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