*

Canada's North holds significant resources; gold, critical

minerals

*

Agnico Eagle is not interested in buying Barrick's

Canadian mine

By Divya Rajagopal

TORONTO, May 2 - Agnico Eagle Mines ( AEM ), Canada's

biggest gold miner, wants the new government to develop a formal

Arctic strategy in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's

threats to make Canada its 51st state, the company's Chairman

Sean Boyd said.

Earlier this year, Agnico overtook Barrick Mining's market

capitalization to become the world's second-largest gold miner,

just below Newmont Corp ( NEM ), the largest extractor of bullion by

production and market capitalization.

Agnico is expanding its Hope Bay Gold project in

Nunavut, the northernmost province of Canada that borders the

Arctic Ocean and Greenland and wants the incoming Canadian

government to promote investment in infrastructure in the

Arctic.

"It's noise (Trump's threats), but as a country, we have to

take it really seriously... and we have been calling for a more

formalized, structured Arctic strategy in this country," Boyd

told Reuters in an interview.

He said the company would be "way more forceful" going

forward to advocate for the Arctic strategy with Ottawa, because

it sees the opportunity for growth in the North.

"It's pretty clear, based on the U.S. interest in Greenland

and the U.S. administration's comments around Canada and

critical metals, that Canada needs to focus more on the

opportunity that exists in Canada's far north and in the

communities and in the people that live in the far north," Boyd

said.

Hope Bay is expected to come back into production by early

next year after the company put the mine in care and maintenance

in 2023 to focus on drilling its resources.

Agnico, one of the few gold miners with assets in Canada, is

betting big on the country even as some of its other peers look

to sell their domestic assets.

Its strategy has paid off with investors as its share price

has jumped by 45% year to date, making it one of the

best-performing mining companies among its peers, Refinitiv data

show.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Barrick Gold ( GOLD ),

another Canadian miner, was looking to sell it's only mine in

the country. However, Boyd has ruled out Agnico buying the asset

as it's too small.

"We've got a really strong pipeline of bigger projects. So

our strategy isn't to pick up smaller things and try to make

them better," he said.

Canada's North has some of the biggest mineral resources in

the world, including gold and other critical metals, but it has

poor infrastructure compared to the rest of Canada. Nunuvut

Premier P.J. Akeeagok, told Reuters last month that the threat

from the south of Canada means it is time for the new government

to step up and build the basic infrastructure in the region.

"I think there's an incredible opportunity here in the north

to bring different corridors through," Akeeagok said.

(Divya Rajagopal in Toronto; Editing by Veronica Brown and

Susan Fenton)