Development projects: Tasiast 24k: Proceeding on schedule and on budget to increase throughput to 21,000 t/d by year-end 2021 and 24,000 t/d by mid-2023.
Chulbatkan: Completed acquisition of a high-quality and prospective project, and commenced a substantial exploration drilling program with the goal of adding to the current 3.9 million Au oz. indicated resource base by year-end.
La Coipa Restart: Proceeding with the project that is expected to generate an internal rate of return1 (IRR) of 28% and net present value1,2 (NPV) of
Fort
Exploration and Mineral Reserves and Resources 3 update: Company added 7.7 million ounces to measured and indicated mineral resources in 2019, a 28% year-over-year increase, mainly due to the acquisition of Chulbatkan, and additions of 1.2 million Au oz. at Lobo-Marte, 1.1 million Au oz. at Paracatu, 568 Au koz. at
Paracatu added 828 Au koz. to mineral reserve estimates, more than offsetting depletion in 2019.
Mineral reserve additions at Chirano, which more than offset depletion, and at
In 2020, Kinross is prioritizing exploration drilling at several operations, including
After tax and incremental to estimated reclamation costs, of which the majority will be deferred to the end of the project. Corporate income tax expense is not expected to be payable at
'We achieved key project and exploration milestones in 2019 to strengthen our portfolio and future production profile. Significant additions to mineral reserve and resource estimates at Paracatu improved the mine's long-term production outlook and offset depletion, while the mineral reserve additions from our exploration programs at
'We are excited about our newly acquired high-quality Chulbatkan project, which we expect to be a substantial open pit, heap leach mine. The project has a strong base case and good upside potential, and we have a substantial drilling program planned for 2020 with the goal of adding to its resource estimates by year-end. We are also proceeding with the La Coipa Restart project, which has strong economics, adds to our production profile, and provides the option to continue studying opportunities in the area.'
The 24k project continues to advance well and remains on budget and on schedule to increase throughput capacity to 21,000 t/d by the end of 2021 and then to 24,000 t/d by mid-2023.
Stripping continues on plan, detailed engineering is largely complete, and procurement and contracting activities are well underway. The construction team has mobilized to site and initial debottlenecking work in the processing plant has commenced, along with construction activities related to the installation of a power plant.
The Company signed the
Chulbatkan
On
The Company's initial mineral resource estimate does not include results from the confirmatory drilling program, which includes one hole that has encountered a potential high-grade structure within the existing mineral resource. Infill drilling and studies are planned this year to update the high-grade portion of the known resource with the goal of defining and further extending the resource base at year-end 2020.
Kinross has also commenced a
Company to proceed with La Coipa Restart project
The Company is proceeding with the La Coipa Restart project in
The open pit project is expected to produce a total of approximately 690 Au eq. koz. from 2022 to 2024 at a cost of sales of
The project is expected to generate an
The Puren6 deposit, which was included as part of the initial pre-feasibility study, was not incorporated into the project FS as a joint venture agreement has not been finalized. The Company will continue to explore opportunities to incorporate adjacent deposits with existing mineral reserves and resources, particularly Puren, Coipa Norte and Can Can, into the La Coipa mine plan with the goal of extending mine life. This includes conducting further technical studies, assessing permitting requirements, and continuing commercial discussions.
The pre-feasibility study (PFS) at Lobo-Marte is proceeding as planned and is scheduled to be completed mid-year. The PFS is based on the concept of commencing Lobo-Marte production after the conclusion of mining at Phase 7 and other potential opportunities at adjacent La Coipa deposits.
Fort
The Fort
Paracatu asset optimization program
The Paracatu asset optimization program that commenced in 2018 was completed in late 2019 with the successful implementation of a comprehensive grade control program. The results of the program include better characterization of the orebody, an improved ability to predict and react to ore variability, and improvements in throughput and recovery. In addition, as a result of a focus on continuous improvement programs, the site is benefiting from improved mining and processing costs and increased overall productivity. Lastly, site water management activities, the addition of renewable power sources with the acquisition of two hydroelectric power plants in 2018, and the continued successful tailings reprocessing project, have further contributed to improved site performance. A newly updated resource model has resulted in the addition of approximately 828 Au koz. to estimated mineral reserves, more than offsetting 2019 depletion of 705 Au koz. Measured and indicated resources also increased by approximately 1.1 million Au oz., or 35%, compared with 2018.
The Company intends to file a new Paracatu Technical Report in
2019 Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources update
In preparing the Company's 2019 year-end mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates as of
Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves 3
Kinross' total proven and probable gold reserve estimate was 24.3 million Au oz. at year-end 2019 compared with 25.5 million Au oz. at year-end 2018. The net year-over-year decrease was mainly due to depletion and was largely offset by additions at Paracatu,
At Paracatu, approximately 828 Au koz. was added to estimated mineral reserves and more than offset depletion of 705 Au koz. The reserve addition was primarily as a result of an enhanced understanding of the orebody and engineering changes to the mine plan, as drilling data from the past two years was incorporated into the resource model.
The 327 Au koz. mineral reserve addition at
Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources 3
Kinross' total estimated measured and indicated mineral resources at year-end 2019 increased by 7.7 million Au oz., or 28%, to 35.5 million Au oz. compared with 27.8 million Au oz. at year-end 2018. The increase was mainly due to the acquisition of the high-quality Chulbatkan deposit in
Inferred Mineral Resources 3
Kinross' total estimated inferred gold resources at year-end 2019 were approximately 5.9 million Au oz., compared with 6.5 million ounces at year-end 2018. The net decrease was primarily a result of a conversion of estimated inferred ounces to indicated resources at
Exploration update
The Company's exploration efforts continued to focus within the footprint of existing mines during 2019. A total of more than 280,000 metres of drilling was completed, of which more than 50% was drilled in
Exploration efforts added approximately 658 Au koz. in estimated mineral reserves, before depletion, in 2019, and 2,709 Au koz. in measured and indicated mineral resources. Most of the mineral reserve additions were at
Chirano: Drilling continued to confirm the depth extensions at Akwaaba, Paboase and Tano. The high-grade portions of Obra beneath the mined out pit was extended, allowing for testing for underground mineability. Engineering studies at Suraw identified portions of the orebody for potential underground mining. During 2019, a total of 320 Au koz. was added to estimated mineral reserves, 159 Au koz. to measured and indicated resources and 118 Au koz. to inferred resources. The additions to mineral reserves increased mine life to 2022 and the Company continues to focus on upgrading mineral resources to mineral reserves to further extend mine life.
For 2020, the brownfields exploration program will follow up on the mineralized targets identified in 2019 with infill drilling and geologic modelling, with the goal of converting the mineralization to estimated measured, indicated and inferred mineral resources.
Kupol-Dvoinoye: Kinross expects to spend up to
Chirano: The Company is increasing exploration spending at Chirano to
Fort Knox: Kinross will continue to explore the western extension of Gilmore in 2020 with the aim of adding to estimated mineral resources. The East Wall, and brownfield targets around the Fort Knox site, including Gil-Sourdough and the
Exploration during 2019 at
A total of approximately 90,100 metres was drilled at
During the early part of 2019, work in the Kupol East Wedge area was discontinued due to lower grade results. Further work at Star North indicates a promising target, and will be explored further in 2020.
Kupol Regional Exploration
One of the main exploration objectives within the
Dvoinoye
At Dvoinoye, a total of approximately 72,000 metres of drilling was completed during 2019. Most of the drilling was carried out at Zone 37 West, Mine Dacite and the Pauk-September South trend. Results from the Mine Dacite area and the Pauk-September trend were encouraging, and further drilling is expected to continue in 2020.
Chirano
In 2019, exploration activities continued to demonstrate the strong potential of the known lode horizon and other promising west splay structures, and enhanced the prospectivity of the under-explored Bibiani style of mineralization to the north and east. The additions to mineral reserves at Chirano in 2019 increased mine life to 2022.
Approximately 34,000 metres were drilled at Paboase, Akwaaba, Tano, Obra and Mamnao North in 2019. A total of 320 Au koz. were added to mineral reserves, with a large portion of the addition obtained from Akwaaba. The other areas that added to mineral reserves were Paboase, Akoti, Suraw and Tano.
In addition, 159 Au koz. were added to measured and indicated resources and 118 Au koz. to inferred resources. These ounces were added mostly from Obra, where drilling under the mined-out pit in 2019 returned high grade zones with good widths. The Company will continue to explore this area in 2020, both along strike and down dip.
Totals may not fully add up due to rounding
Drilling continued at Mamnao North on the main mineralized lode trending north and to the west of the main lode. A moderate width higher-grade western splay shoot intersected one of the holes returning 24.8 metres @ 1.63 g/t Au, (True width), including 13.9 metres @ 2.15g/t Au. This structure bends westward and coincides with local networks of shears, which dilates and pinches.
The 2020 exploration budget at Chirano was increased to
Exploration at
During 2019 there was an increased focus on generative exploration for which a total of 13 target areas were tested and significant field work was completed on 11 additional pipeline targets. Three of the drill target areas produced encouraging intercepts. The ZZ Top target continued to define structural controlled mineralization with intercepts up to 30.5 metres @ 1.18 g/t Au at 256 metres depth. This target is deep and mineralization is constrained to a small structural volume. A target north of the Galaxy resource provided the most encouraging results, with mineralization up to 59.4 metres @ 1.08 g/t Au and 13.7 metres @ 1.17 g/t Au along an open trend. This is a northeast steep structure controlling mineralized dike and breccia.
Fort Knox
Exploration continued to focus on mineralization extensions of the Fort Knox ore body. A total of 7,300 metres of drilling was completed during 2019, mainly focusing on the western crest of the pit. The results were encouraging and resulted in the addition of 229 Au koz. in measured and indicated resources. During 2019, a ground gravity survey was completed from Fort Knox to Gil-Sourdough to understand the geological settings of the area for future exploration work. Kinross plans to continue to conduct exploration and resource conversion drilling at Fort Knox, Gil-Sourdough, and the
During 2018, drilling at the
Greenfield exploration update
In 2019, Kinross focused its greenfields exploration program on targets in
Key components of Kinross' focused greenfields exploration strategy include pursuing opportunities and high margin deposits through strategic investments and partnerships with high quality junior exploration companies. Kinross also focuses on fostering relationships with management teams that have a successful track record of discovery and keeping a solid pipeline of quality targets that demonstrate scope and scale for significant discovery.
In
In
Conference call details
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This release should be read in conjunction with Kinross' Q4/2019 year-end results news release, 2019 year-end Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis report at www.kinross.com. Kinross' 2019 year-end Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis have been filed with Canadian securities regulators (available at www.sedar.com) and furnished with the
About
Kinross is a Canadian-based senior gold mining company with mines and projects in
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