Kinross to switch to underground at Round Mountain
The optimisation programme for the Round Mountain mine, in Nevada, has been completed and Kinross has opted to go underground, rather than pursuing openpit expansions.
The optimisation studies evaluated four primary options to exploit the resources at Round Mountain: Phase S openpit pushback, Phase W3 openpit pushback, Phase X underground and Gold Hill underground.
The Phase X and Gold Hill underground options are better suited to the current gold price and inflationary environment, senior VP for technical services Jed Jalil explained in a conference call on Thursday, stating that W3 and Phase S expansion opportunities had been deferred.
Phase S and W3 remain economic at the current gold prices and could be exploited in the future when the gold price or cost drive improves, he added.
“The two underground opportunities show potential for higher-margin, higher-return operations at Round Mountain compared to openpit, along with increased flexibility and optionality.”
Jalil said that Phase X had the potential to be a bulk mining underground operation at a profitable grade of 3 g/t to 4 g/t, while Gold Hill showed potential to be a narrower, higher-grade operation at 6 g/t to 8 g/t.
The combined underground operation could produce about 150 000 oz/y at an all-in sustaining cost of $1 000/oz to $1 100/oz.
A team with underground expertise has been assembled and Kinross would start construction of an underground decline at Phase X next year.
Phase X would produce about 100 000 oz/y by 2026 and when Gold Hill starts operating, Round Mountain would produce about 150 000 oz/y in 2028 or 2029, Jalil stated.
Over the next two years, Round Mountain would still produce about 250 000 oz/y from openpit mining.
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