Buchan to retire from Kinross (January 12, 2005)

Robert Buchan, president and chief executive at Kinross Gold (K-T), will retire from his executive positions and take over as a non-executive chairman.

Buchan, who has been chief executive for 12 years, will step down after the company’s annual meeting in late April. The board has started a search for a successor.

Kinross also announced it had bought Rio Tinto (RTP-N) out of its 51% interest in Rio Paracatu Minerazao, the Brazilian company that holds the Paracatu mine in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Kinross will pay US$260 million for the interest, with a final adjustment on closing to account for the mine’s working capital at year-end.

Paracatu, in which Kinross had been a 49% non-operating partner since taking over TVX Gold in 2003, had produced about 142,000 oz. gold in the eight months ended September 2004. Total cash production costs ran to US$220 per oz. and total costs to US$283. It is a high-tonnage, low-grade operation, with head grades around 0.45 grams gold per tonne.

As well, Kinross has extended the closing date on its acquisition of Crown Resources (CRCE-O), which had been scheduled for year-end. The transaction will now close in May, and meanwhile Kinross will subscribe for just over half a million shares of Crown at US$1.95 each.

Crown received surface rights for its Buckhorn Mountain gold project in Okanogan Cty., Washington state, which is 67 km from Kinross’s Kettle River gold mill. Permitting is under way and Kinross expects to start construction of a mine late in the year.