Agnico Eagle Mines is in the process of installing an ore sorting pilot plant at its Pinos Altos gold-silver operation in Mexico as it looks to improve the feed grade to its processing facilities.

The announcement came in the company’s September quarter financial results, which also mentioned a planned trial of automated underground mining equipment at the La Ronde Zone 5 mine in the Abitibi region of Quebec, Canada.

Agnico said testing of the ore sorter was expected to begin later this month and continue for some six months.

“Over this period, samples will be processed from all the orebodies to determine the merits of implementing the technology in Mexico,” the company said, adding that similar ore sorting pilot testing was being considered at the company’s other operating regions.

Pinos Altos is an open pit and underground operation that produced close to 250,000 oz of gold last year.