Page 42 By Gregory Reynolds Paul Penna cam e late to the mining game but he soon proved a master at it At one time the biggest gold mine company in Quebec Agnico Eagle Gold Mines Ltd exists because of his hard work stubbornness and faith in his own abilities According to his profle in the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Penna s climb from penny stock promoter to respected and successful mine fnancier was accom plished through hard work remarkable perseverance plus a knack for acquiring and motivating top notch ex ploration and operating personnel Penna was named Mining Man of Y ear by The North ern Miner in 1985 and was the frst recipient of the Pros pectors and Developers Association of Canada s Devel opers A ward He was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 1996 the year he died For more information see httpwww mininghallof amecainducteesprpaulpenna He had an 18page will to disperse his 24 million for tune to a variet y of small Jewish charities hospitals and homeless missions Penna a devout Jew frequently emptied his pockets to help the elderly and homeless people he encountered on T oronto s streets Penna s eccent ric generosity was the stuf of mining lore He gave tubes of gold fakes to shareholders at annual meetings gifte d Agnico stock to friends kept a stack of winter coats at his ofce for the homeless and each work morning carted a bucket of corn to a park near his Mis sissauga home to feed the geese According to the CMHOF Penna was born in the west end of T oronto in 1922 His introduction to the mining industry came in 1943 with an apprenticeship to a small brokerage frm He worked for almost ten years as a penny stock sales man before making his frst attempt at raising money for a mining venture In 1953 fve struggling minin g companies joined together to become Cobalt Consolidated Mining which would last until 1957 when the company changed its name to Ag nico Mines Agnico is derived from the periodic table of elem ents using the symbols for silver Ag nickel Ni and cobalt Co In 1963 visionary Penna became the president of Agnico Mines and he eventually oversaw the mer ger of Agnico Mines with Eagle Mines Ltd a successful gold explora tion company enabling the development of Eagle s Jou tel mining complex The newly formed company became Agnico Eagle Mines Limited When the low price of silver temporarily closed the Cobalt operations Penna gained control of Dumagami Mines a struggling low grade open pit gold operation with lim ited reserves in Quebec A frm believer in the miner s axioms that the best place to look for ore is near ore and that mines are not found but made Penna put together a technical team that turned around the operation since renamed LaRonde T oday Agnico Eagle is a senior Canadian gold mining company that has produced precious metals since 1957 Its eight mines are located in Canada Finland and Mexi co with exploration and development activities in each of these countries as well as in the United States and Swe den The company is celebrating its 60th anniversary through out 2017 with the ofcial date being Oct25 The company and its shareholders have full exposure to gold prices due to its longstanding policy of no forward gold sales Agnico Eagle has declared a cash dividend ev ery year since 1983 In 1974 the Joutel Mine went into production and would eventually produce approximately 11 million ounces of gold until its closure in 1993 The LaRonde Mine is now considered the fagship mining Paul Penna never forgot the poor Mine developer Contd on pg 44 Page 42