North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Kinross Gold Corp. Nov. 9 reported another quarter of strong production at its Fort Knox gold mine in Alaska.

During the third quarter, Kinross' Alaska operation produced 75,522 ounces of gold, which is down only slightly from the 77,184 oz of gold produced in the previous quarter and about 8% higher than the 71,336 oz recovered during the third quarter of 2021.

Kinross attributes the strong third quarterly production to increasing mill throughput.

During the three months ending Sept. 30, the Kinross Alaska mill at Fort Knox processed 2.48 million metric tons of ore averaging 0.71 grams per metric ton gold, compared to 2.26 million metric tons averaging 0.66 g/t gold processed during the previous quarter.

Kinross is looking forward to strong gold production at Fort Knox gold continuing into the fourth quarter due to the large tonnage of ore stacked onto the leach pad and increasing gold grades in the solution coming off the heap leach facility.

During the quarter, crews also stacked 13.1 million metric tons of ore averaging 0.21 g/t gold on the Barnes Creek heap leach pad at Fort Knox, which is higher quantities and grades when compared to the 12.8 million metric tons averaging 0.19 g/t gold during the previous three-month period.

The per-ounce cost of Fort Knox gold sold during the third quarter of this year was US$1,194, essentially the same as the US$1,192/oz production cost of sales during the previous quarter but a 26% jump over the $947/oz cost during the third quarter of 2021.

Kinross said the increased year-over-year costs are primarily due to inflationary pressures and higher contractor costs.

Manh Choh boost

While Fort Knox gold production has been trending higher since mining began at Gil-Sourdough, a satellite deposit on the Fort Knox property, the real jump is expected to come with the first deliveries of high-grade Manh Choh ore to the Kinross Alaska mill during the second half of 2024.

Upon completion of a feasibility study, Kinross made the official decision in July to move ahead with developing a mine at the Manh Choh gold-silver project on property leased from the Alaska Native Village of Tetlin.

Being developed under a joint venture between Kinross (70%) and Contango ORE Inc. (30%), Manh Choh hosts 3.9 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 7.88 grams per metric ton (998,000 oz) gold and 13.6 g/t (1.7 million) oz silver.

The feasibility study envisions trucking high-grade ore mined at Manh Choh roughly 250 miles to Fort Knox Mine. This ore is to then be processed through the existing Kinross Alaska mill and the tailings stored on the Fort Knox property.

With the addition of high-grade ore from Manh Choh, which will be roughly 10 times higher than ore currently being processed through the Kinross Alaska mill, the gold production at Fort Knox is expected to jump to 400,000 oz per year for the currently anticipated 4.5 years of mining at Manh Choh.

Kinross Alaska

Crews upgrade a road on the Manh Choh property leased from the Alaska Native Village of Tetlin in eastern Alaska.

"At Manh Choh in Alaska, we completed a feasibility study ahead of schedule, and are proceeding with a project that we expect will add approximately 640,000 lower-cost gold ounces to our production profile over its life of mine in one of the world's best mining jurisdictions," Kinross Gold President J. Paul Rollinson said in July.

The 640,000 oz of gold represents Kinross' 70% share of production. Contango ORE's share is expected to be more than 300,000 oz of gold-equivalent, which accounts for the silver value, over the 4.5-year mining period outlined in the feasibility study.

The Manh Choh joint venture is carrying out early development work at Manh Choh, which includes establishing a camp and upgrading the road that connects the high-grade deposits to the Alaska Highway.

Initial production from Manh Choh is expected in the second half of 2024.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (907) 726-1095
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-lasley-ab073b12/