Ontario fast-tracks Kinross Gold’s Great Bear project

Ontario is upgrading Kinross Gold’s (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) Great Bear project to its One Project One Process framework, Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce said on Tuesday.

The C$1.4 billion capex Great Bear, the first gold project in the program for expedited permits, joins Canada Nickel’s (TSXV: CNC) Crawford project added last month and Frontier Lithium’s (TSXV: FL) PAK project confirmed in October. The province is aiming to cut approval times to two years by coordinating ministerial, Indigenous and federal consent after reports showed mine approvals can take more than a decade.

“We’re getting shovels in the ground, proving that world-class projects can be built with speed and in partnership,” Lecce said in prepared remarks for delivery near Toronto. “Ontario’s accelerated permitting regime, reliable energy, and skilled workforce is positioning our province as the world’s most attractive and predictable investment opportunity.”

Toronto-based Kinross, which by market capitalization ranks among the top five Canada-domiciled gold producers, is developing Great Bear to produce 518,000 oz. gold a year by 2029 at an all-in sustaining cost of $812 per oz., according to a 2024 preliminary economic assessment. The would be in the leading handful of Canadian producers by output and among those with the lowest cost.

Cornerstone

Kinross, which produces about 2 million oz. annually, sees the project as a cornerstone of its global development portfolio which includes the Manh Choh project in Alaska. The company produces about 500,000 oz. from Tasiast in Mauritania, and has Paracatu in Brazil as well as La Coipa and Lobo-Marte in Chile.

“This designation facilitates a more integrated and streamlined path forward as we advance the permitting of this world-class mine towards commercial production in consultation with Indigenous communities,” Kinross CEO J. Paul Rollinson said in the same release. “Great Bear is a generational asset and positioned to become one of Canada’s largest and most profitable gold mines.”

Located 500 km northwest of Thunder Bay near Red Lake, a town with a long mining history, the project is a high-grade combined open-pit and underground mine with an initial life of 12 years. The site’s LP, Hinge and Limb zones contain 30.3 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 2.81 grams gold per tonne for 2.7 million oz. gold and another 25.5 million inferred tonnes at 4.74 grams gold for 3.9 million oz., according to a 2024 resource update.

This Great Bear designation ties in with provincial work on the Red Lake Transmission Line that would run from Dryden to Red Lake to power new mines and growing communities, the province said. Electricity demand in the North of Dryden region, which includes Red Lake, is forecast to grow by up to 250% from its current level by 2050, driven largely by the expected growth in the mining sector, according to the province.

Shares in Kinross Gold fell 2.6% to C$45.66 apiece in Toronto on Tuesday morning before the announcement for a market capitalization of C$55.2 billion ($40.4 billion).