Nevada & Washington Mines Lives Extended With Construction Of Three Projects

TORONTO – Kinross Gold Corporation announced that it is proceeding with the construction of three projects: the Round Mountain Phase X and Bald Mountain Redbird 2 projects in Nevada, and the Kettle River-Curlew project in Washington. These projects are expected to meaningfully extend mine life and will benefit long-term costs within Kinross’ United States (U.S.) portfolio.
J. Paul Rollinson, CEO, said, “We are excited to be moving ahead with Round Mountain Phase X, Curlew and Bald Mountain Redbird 2. These three new growth projects are expected to contribute 3 million ounces of life-of-mine production to our portfolio, extend mine lives at our Nevada assets well into the 2030s, and benefit our long-term costs in the U.S. Together they deliver attractive economics with an expected quick payback.
Higher-grade underground mining at Phase X and Curlew reflect the next phase of our grade enhancement strategy that we initiated in 2022. The transition to underground mining at Round Mountain is anticipated to initially extend mine life to 2038 and deliver incremental annual production of approximately 140,0006 gold equivalent ounces. Curlew is a high-grade restart opportunity in Washington, leveraging our existing Kettle River mill infrastructure, with an initial 11-year mine life at an average mining grade of 5.8 g/t. Drilling at both assets has already shown wide, high-grade intercepts outside of the initial resource that demonstrate the upside potential for further resource and mine life additions, which will continue to be a focus of our exploration. Redbird 2 is expected to deliver high-productivity, low-cost production as the next anchor pit alongside five satellite pits. They are designed to add approximately 155,000 gold ounces of annual production, initially extending Bald Mountain’s mine life to 2032, with further upside potential within the extensive land package.
By funding these projects with cash flow from our operations, we are reinvesting in our business to generate additional value in internal projects underpinned by a low-cost structure and excellent economics. As we look forward, these new projects are well timed and are expected to start contributing in 2028, coinciding with getting back to higher-grade mining at Tasiast. We look forward to unlocking their full potential as we continue delivering value for our shareholders, communities and employees.” 
The Phase X project is a bulk tonnage underground mining opportunity below the current Phase W open pit at Round Mountain, targeting higher-grade, lower-cost mining of the same mineralization at depth as part of the Company’s grade optimization strategy to offset inflation and increase future margins at the site. Phase X underground will benefit from the strong existing infrastructure at site and will be processed through the existing mill in parallel with remaining open pit mineralization and stockpiles. The Company expects Phase X to incrementally produce approximately 1.4 million Au eq. oz. over an initial 11-year mine life, starting in 2028, extending production at Round Mountain until 2038, and averaging approximately 140,000 Au eq. oz. per year from 2029 to 2037. Phase X is expected to lower Round Mountain’s future costs.
The Phase X project is planned as a bulk tonnage underground operation, with first production expected in 2028, ramping up to a peak mining rate of 4,800 tonnes per day (tpd). Mining costs and AISC are expected to benefit from the wide, consistent nature of the deposit, with an average width of 120 metres. The primary mining method is transverse long-hole open stoping with paste backfill following a bottom-up mining sequence.
The mining cost and efficiency will also benefit from three underground accesses, including two declines that are already in place and a third decline planned for 2028 to enhance both ventilation and haulage routes. The mine plan includes an investment in early development of infrastructure for both the upper and lower zones to allow mining of both zones concurrently, increasing the production rate and overall efficiency of mining.
The underground mineralization from Phase X will be processed through the existing 10,000 tpd milling facility at Round Mountain, blending the higher-grade underground mineralization with lower grade open pit production from Phase S and with low grade stockpile from historic open pit mining thereafter.
The Phase X mine plan inventory has the same geometallurgy as what has been mined historically at Round Mountain, and is expected to have an average recovery of 88% based on a robust metallurgical testwork program, extensive history of processing this mineralization and a bulk sample of the underground deposit in 2025 that demonstrated positive grade reconciliation. Development of the underground headings and infrastructure is already well underway, benefiting from the six km of underground development and dual declines completed as part of the exploration program.
The project’s execution timeline is significantly de-risked with federal permits for underground mining at 3,000 tons per day already secured; Kinross expects to receive a minor federal modification to increase the mining rate beyond 3,000 tons per day and finalize the state mining authorization for Phase X in Q1 2026, marking the completion of all major operational permitting.
Transitioning to underground mining at Round Mountain is expected to increase the operation’s grade profile and results in superior economics compared with continued open pit operations at Phase W, including lower costs, higher margins, significantly higher IRR and NPV, and increased long-term optionality for mine-life extensions.
This initial underground reserve and resource is a point in time estimate and only demonstrates a portion of the long-term potential of the asset. There is significant potential to extend the reserve and resource at Phase X through both proximal and down dip exploration, with existing intercepts already showing mineralization with similar width and grade outside of the Phase X underground reserve and resource. Resource extensions down dip also have the potential to increase the underground mining rate at Phase X by opening more stoping zones, resulting in a higher mill grade and production than the initial mine plan assumes.
The Curlew project is a high grade, underground gold mine located ~40 km northwest of the Kettle River mill and tailings facilities. Kinross has a long history of production in the region and significant infrastructure in place. The Kettle River mill has produced 2.8 million Au oz. historically and it was moved to care and maintenance in 2017. The Company expects Curlew to produce approximately 940,000 Au oz. over an initial 11 year mine life from 2028 to 2038, averaging approximately 100,000 Au oz. per year for the first five full years, and 85,000 Au oz. per year for the life-of-mine. Curlew is planned as a high grade underground operation, with first production expected in 2028, ramping up to a peak mining rate of 1,800 tpd. AISC benefits from the strong average grade of 5.8 g/t and good mining widths with an average width of over six metres for the first five years and four metres life-of-mine. The mining methods will include both longitudinal and transverse long hole open stoping with cemented and uncemented rockfill following a bottom-up mining sequence.
The project leverages the existing portal and underground infrastructure from the historic K2 mine, which will be extended to support mining of the current Curlew deposit. The mine plan will target the widest, highest-grade mineralization first driving the higher expected average gold production of approximately 100,000 Au oz. per annum for the first five full years. Existing drilling outside of the current resource shows potential to expand with higher-grade, wider mineralization, which would be prioritized ahead of the lowest-grade mineralization in the current mine plan inventory, and providing potential to maintain the 100,000 Au oz. per year production rate for longer.
Mineralization from the Curlew mine is planned to be processed through the existing 1,800 tpd Kettle River mill. The mill includes conventional crushing, grinding, and carbon-in-leach (CIL) gold recovery, and will be refurbished as part of the restart project. A new tailings dewatering plant will also be installed at the existing tailings management facility to convert from conventional to dry stack tailings.
The site construction program is well advanced and critical early works are complete. The Company is on track to award major contracts for mining and construction in early 2026, and is advancing the hiring of key roles for project execution and operations. All significant permits for mining and processing activities have been received with the exception of one state-level permit related to the tailings height increase, which is expected to be received in 2026.
The Curlew project offers significant upside potential, driven by ongoing exploration success and the geological prospectivity of the district. Drilling campaigns have consistently grown the resource at depth, with more recent intercepts confirming higher grades and improved mineability in the lower zones. The Company is focused on targeting wider, higher-grade extensions along the productive paleosurface which includes multiple historic mines, including K1 and K2, to both extend the overall resource and enhance the production profile from 2034 onward.
Drilling programs are already underway in areas such as Stealth North and Roadrunner, and wide, high-grade intercepts outside of the current resource have already shown potential for further resource expansion.
The Redbird 2 project consists of Phase 2 of the Redbird pit along with five additional satellite pits that combined are expected to incrementally produce a total of approximately 640,000 Au oz., with first production in 2028 and an average production of approximately 155,000 oz. Au per year between 2028-2031, extending production at Bald Mountain until early 2032. The project leverages the existing infrastructure, equipment, and workforce at Bald Mountain, continuing the long history of successful open pit heap leach operations on the extensive land package.
The approval of Redbird 2 builds on the Q4 2024 decision to proceed with mining of Phase 1 at Redbird and the associated conversion of approximately one million resource ounces to reserves. In 2025, an additional 0.2 Moz. Au have been included from Redbird 2 and the new satellite deposits, more than offsetting depletion to grow the total reserves. The mine plan centres on laybacks of previously mined pits, with Redbird 2 planned to be the next anchor pit and five satellite pits – Poker, Casino, Bida, Galaxy and Saga – complimenting Redbird’s output and improving the production profile. The strategy of mining both an anchor pit at Redbird and concurrent satellite pits is aligned with the historic mining strategy at Bald Mountain, and provides significant economies of scale to support high-margin production at the operation.
The location of the Redbird pit, close to the existing Bald Mountain heap leach, truck shop, and administrative facilities, also drives efficient operations and lower costs for the project. Processing of Redbird 2 will take place on the Bald Mountain heap leach pad, and processing for the satellite pits will take place on the Mooney heap leach pad. The heap leach pads will be expanded to accommodate the additional mine plan inventory from this project.
Bald Mountain’s large, prolific land package, demonstrated by the more than 40 historic pits on the property, continues to be a focus for further exploration to extend mine life. Exploration in 2024 and 2025 was successful in both growing and defining the satellite pit inventories to complement the Redbird 2 mining profile. Going forward, exploration will continue to focus on both satellite pit additions and discovering new anchor pits at the operation. Bald Mountain has a substantial 2.5 Moz. Au measured and indicated resource, and 0.8 Moz. Au inferred resource. This includes the next expected anchor pit, the Top pit, which is already in the existing resource with more than 1 Moz. contained. The Top pit is already permitted for mining and will be the next focus of project study at Bald Mountain for further life-of-mine extensions beyond 2032.