Initial MRE For The Great Bear Project

TORONTO - Kinross Gold Corporation announced the initial mineral resource estimate for its Great Bear project located in Ontario, Canada. The Company’s focus for 2022 was drilling the first ~500 meters at the LP Fault zone to increase confidence in the upper portion of the deposit and facilitate the delivery of the initial mineral resource. It drilled over 250 kilometers in 2022, including 225 kilometers of diamond exploration drilling. Combined with the drilling completed by Great Bear since 2018, a total of over 550 kilometers of drilling has now been completed on the property. The results continue to support its view that the LP Fault zone is expected to host a long-life, high-grade, open-pit and underground mine.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-kilometer confirmatory grade control program on a tighter spaced 8 by 10 meter 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.

“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 sizable underground mine. We believe the resource we have defined are just the beginning. 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 kilometer. 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.”

Infrastructure in the Great Bear area is well developed with the project located 25 kilometers 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 testwork is indicating excellent rock strength for the angle of the open pit slopes and integrity of the underground mine.