Dual-listed Kinross Gold has completed the $283-million acquisition of the Chulbatkan heap leach development project in Russia, and has started a comprehensive drilling programme aimed at updating the resource base by year-end.
Kinross will be spending about $10-million on initial exploration drilling at Chulbatkan during the year.
The company is also planning to convert estimated mineral resources to estimated mineral reserves, complete prefeasibility and feasibility studies for the project within about three years, and is targeting a subsequent two-year construction period.