Kinross Completes Phase III Expansion at Gold Mine in Central Brazil

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) (Toronto, Ontario), through its wholly owned subsidiary Rio Paracatu Mineracao (Paracatu, Brazil), has concluded the Phase III expansion at the Morro do Ouro gold mine in Paracatu, Minas Gerais, in central Brazil.

The company invested about $570 million to increase ore production from about 20 million tons per year to 61 million tons per year with the installation of a 41 million-ton-per-year treatment plant designed to treat the harder ore being encountered deeper in the mine. The average annual production for the first five years is expected to be about 557,000 ounces of gold per year. With the commissioning of Phase III, the company plans to become Brazil's largest gold producer.

Kinross' board of directors approved the project in 2005, and an engineering, procurement and construction/management contract for the expansion of the processing plants and associated infrastructure was awarded to Minerconsult Engenharia Limitada (Belo Horizonte, Brazil). Main construction firms were Planar S.A. (Belo Horizonte) and Parex (Nova Lima, Brazil).

The mine has been operating since 1987 and underwent expansions in 1997 and 1999. The site includes an open pit mine, a processing plant, tailings storage and related surface infrastructure. Gold is recovered by gravity separation and floatation followed by carbon-in-leach processing.

Rio Paracatu Mineracao was founded in 1985, producing its first gold bullion in December 1987. Kinross, a gold producer with mines in the United States, Russia, Brazil and Chile, acquired RPM in January 2005.

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