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Kinross Gold Corp. is moving to expand its Tasiast mine in West Africa in a bid to reduce its costs of production and boost output in the region.
On Sunday, Toronto-based Kinross announced it will invest US$150-million into the mine in Mauritania, predicting that production will rise to an average of 445,000 ounces of gold a year starting in 2020. Last year, the mine produced about 250,000 ounces.
The announcement comes after a previous, more expensive expansion plan for Tasiast was put on hold in 2018. Acquired by Kinross in 2010, the mine’s expansion plan has been in limbo for more than a year amid protracted negotiations with the Mauritanian government over taxes and procurement agreements.
In an interview, Kinross chief executive Paul Rollinson expressed optimism that continuing talks with Mauritania, which recently underwent a regime change, will end positively.
“It’s important that we resolve things and we’re confident we will,” he said. In August, 2018, Kinross put a previous US$600-million expansion plan for Tasiast on hold. Kinross had envisaged expanding Tasiast to a 630,000-ounce-a-year operation with a return of investment of about 23 per cent. Under the revised plan, the miner predicts a 60-per-cent return on investment.
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