Agnico Eagle and Maple have entered into a binding term that will considers the formation of a 50/50 joint venture, which will combine Maple’s Douay project and Agnico Eagle’s Joutel project into a consolidated joint property package. The Douay project and Joutel project are adjacent properties located in the Abitibi region of Quebec, and the Joutel project hosted Agnico’s past-producing Telbel mine.

According to the binding term sheet, Agnico Eagle will fund $18 million in exploration expenses over a four-year period; Agnico Eagle and Maple will jointly fund an additional $500,000 in exploration of VMS targets on the western portion of the Douay Project; and both will be granted a 2% NSR on the property that they contribute to the joint venture, each with aggregate buyback provisions of US$40 million.

Agnico Eagle currently owns 11,764,706 common shares, representing approximately 4.4% of the issued and outstanding common shares on a non-diluted basis. Upon completion, Agnico Eagle will own approximately 12.84% of the issued and outstanding common shares on a non-diluted basis and 19.9% of the issued and outstanding common shares on a partially diluted basis.