Gold-miners Kinross Gold and Barrick Gold will probably make a decision on whether to go ahead with their Cerro Casale project, in Chile, after the end of the first quarter of next year, Kinross president and CEO Tye Burt said on Wednesday.

The companies are negotiating an ownership agreement and are also working on updating a feasibility study for the project, which has been touted as one of the largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits in the world.

The partners are in talks to produce a new shareholders agreement, which will govern the Cerro Casale joint venture (JV), after Kinross inherited a 49% holding in the project through its acquisition last year of Bema Gold, and Barrick took over the balance of the project when it bought Arizona Star, towards the end of 2007.

An updated feasibility study is also expected to be completed early in 2009, Burt said.

Senior management had already been appointed for the JV, and “we've both allocated more capital to continue with the metallurgical drilling programme”.

Cerro Casale currently has estimated reserves of 23-million ounces of gold and six-billion pounds of copper.

Shares in Kinross rose 9,3% on Wednesday, to C$17,75 apiece by 16:10 in Toronto.

The company owns mines in the US, Brazil, Chile and Russia, and recently started producing at a new operation, Kupol, in Russia.

Kinross also plans to start production at its Paracatu expansion project, in Brazil, in September, followed by a start-up at the new Buckhorn mine, in the US, a month later.

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