Kinross pours gold at Barnes Creek Heap Leach in Alaska; and completes Cat 7495 build at Paracatu in Brazil

In January 2021, Kinross Fort Knox in Alaska, US says it celebrated a significant milestone with its first gold pour from the Barnes Creek Heap Leach Facility. Fort Knox completed construction of the Gilmore Expansion project in October 2020 and began processing at the Barnes Creek Heap Leach shortly after. The project is expected to extend life of mine to 2030, adding an additional 1.5 million gold equivalent ounces to Fort Knox’s production profile.

The Barnes Creek Heap Leach was constructed over three years and was successfully completed on time and under budget. The pad currently covers 50 acres of land, with plans to expand to approximately 300 acres, and will allow for the phasing out of the Walter Creek Heap Leach pad.

“The project was a joint effort across numerous disciplines at Fort Knox,  in particular our Capital Projects and Ore Processing departments,” said Jason Perino, Capital Projects Manager, Fort Knox. “We are proud to see this project come full circle and recognise the role this will play in the future of Fort Knox. Thank you to our team for the hard work and dedication that has made this gold pour possible.”

Over in Brazil, Kinross Paracatu gold mine recently completed construction of a nearly new Cat 7495 Electric Shovel with HydraCrowd. The shovel was constructed over 85 days by 65 mechanics, electricians, engineers, and a training team. Once complete, the shovel weighed over 1,400 t and is expected to increase ore handled from 6,000 t per hour to 7,000 t per hour by 2023.

“I would like to extend a sincere thank you to our multidisciplinary team who completed this project safely and efficiently,” said Rodrigo Gomides, Operations Director and Deputy General Manager, Paracatu. “The importance of teamwork was highlighted during this construction and showed us that at Paracatu, we can achieve amazing things when we work together.”

This is Kinross’ second time purchasing a gently used shovel in recent years, and in doing so, will result in ~$10 million capital expenditures reduction by putting the shovel in operation at a shorter lead time than if purchased new.