Kinross Gold announces Robust Mineral Resource Finding at Great Bear Project

The initial mineral resource estimate consists of 2.737 Million Ounces of indicated resources and 2.290 Moz. of inferred resources. The company’s initial open pit and underground mineral resource estimate is set out in the table below.

Additionally, the majority of the resource is contained in a high-grade core illustrated in the table below, which is a subset of the resource with cut-off grades increased to 0.9 g/t in the open pit and 3.5 g/t in the underground. Kinross plans to target this higher-grade mineralization in the early years of potential production.

Kinross’ focus for 2022 was drilling the first ~500 metres at the LP Fault zone to increase confidence in the upper portion of the deposit and facilitate the delivery of the initial mineral resource. The company drilled over 250 kilometres in 2022, including 225 kilometres of diamond exploration drilling. Combined with the drilling completed by Great Bear since 2018, a total of over 550 kilometres of drilling has now been completed on the property. The results continue to support Kinross’ view that the LP Fault zone is expected to host a long-life, high-grade, open-pit and underground mine.

“The Great Bear initial mineral resource estimate marks an exciting milestone for the company’s future development,” said J. Paul Rollinson, President and CEO. “In just one year since acquiring the property, we have validated our belief for this to potentially become a world class asset. The initial mineral resource estimate and continuity of high grades and widths at depth reinforces our vision for a high-quality open pit and sizeable underground mine.”

“We believe the resource we have defined today is just the beginning,” Rollinson added. “The drill results below our resource support our hypothesis that the deposit remains open at depth with high grade and visible gold intercepted down to depths of one kilometre, as illustrated in the long section below.”

“These results solidify our expectation that Great Bear will become a top quality, tier one asset in our portfolio, providing long-term upside for our shareholders, he stated.”

Kinross completed comprehensive data analysis to build high quality lithology, alteration, and structural models which feed the company’s mineral resource estimation domains. Kinross also completed a 35-kilometre confirmatory grade control program on a tighter spaced 8 by 10 metre grid with larger diameter holes as compared to the exploration drilling. This program, which covers approximately 1.5 million tonnes of the open pit resource, was used to verify the Great Bear resource model, providing a high level of confidence in our stated resource, which is important given the high amount of visible gold in the deposit.

Project Details
Infrastructure in the Great Bear area is well developed with the project located 25 kilometres southeast of the town of Red Lake, Ontario. A paved highway, natural gas pipeline, and provincial power line runs parallel to the project, and the property hosts a network of well-maintained logging roads that facilitate access.

The company initiated a comprehensive metallurgy testing program in 2022, which is indicating excellent recoveries from an industry standard Gravity + CIL process. Initial test work indicates a high gold recovery of ~95%, that includes a high proportion of gravity recovery. The metallurgy testing will continue in 2023 to obtain higher confidence on the initial recoveries. Additionally, initial geotechnical drilling and test work is indicating excellent rock strength for the angle of the open pit slopes and integrity of the underground mine.

Kinross is voluntarily releasing a technical report focused on geology and metallurgy that supports this initial mineral resource estimate concurrently following this press release. The technical report has been prepared pursuant to Canadian Securities Administrator's National Instrument 43-101, and may be found at www.kinross.com or under the company’s profile at www.sedar.com.

Consultation With Wabauskang and Lac Seul First Nations
Baseline environmental surveys, local community socio-economic studies and preliminary engineering activities required for the permitting process are progressing well. Kinross has opened a community office and is continuing its local stakeholder engagement program with local communities and with its partners, Wabauskang and Lac Seul First Nations, on whose traditional territories the project is located.

2023 Focus
Kinross’ drilling and exploration focus for 2023 is to continue to add inferred resource ounces, define deep mineralization, continue exploration along strike, and identify new targets around the property.
The company is also progressing studies and permitting for an advanced exploration program that would establish an underground decline to obtain a bulk sample and allow for more efficient exploration of deeper areas of the LP Fault, along with the nearby Hinge and Limb gold zones. Kinross is targeting a potential start of the advanced program as early as 2024.Kinross continues to advance detailed studies and permitting activities, with plans to release the results of this work in the form of a preliminary economic assessment in 2024.

About Kinross Gold Corporation
Kinross is a Canadian-based global senior gold mining company with operations and projects in the United States, Brazil, Mauritania, Chile and Canada. Our focus is on delivering value based on the core principles of responsible mining, operational excellence, disciplined growth, and balance sheet strength. Kinross maintains listings on the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol:K) and the New York Stock Exchange (symbol:KGC).

For detailed tables of the results visit https://www.kinross.com/news-and-investors/default.aspx

For More Information Contact
Victoria Barrington
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
phone: 647-788-4153
victoria.barrington@kinross.com

Investor Relations Contact
Chris Lichtenheldt
Vice-President, Investor Relations
phone: 416-365-2761
chris.lichtenheldt@kinross.com

Tags: Northern Ontario / Exploration / Gold / All Articles