2007 Full Report - Kinross Gold

Kubaka FactsThe Kubaka Mine: A Model of Community SupportIn January 2008, Kinross completed the sale of its share of the Kubaka minein the Magadan region of the Russian far east, historically a prolific mining region.Kubaka played a significant role in our company’s growth and locally the operationwas an important contributor to the economy.Kubaka produced over3 million ounces of goldbetween February 1997and August 2006. The peakproduction years at Kubakaoccurred as the Russianeconomy went througha difficult transformation.While gold production fromother companies in theMagadan region declined,Kubaka provided a muchneededinfusion to the localeconomy. At one point,Kubaka produced morethan 50% of the goldin the region, employedmore than 700 people andcontributed in many waysto the local community.Our Omolon Charitable Fund became a model for providing community supportin Magadan. A charter was developed in 1995 and we established the fund withan initial seed investment of $1 million, supplemented annually with $250,000 grants,providing a total of $3 million over nine years of mining operations. These fundssupported college-level educational initiatives for local residents, paid for repairs tocommunity infrastructure and supported the activities of traditional craftspeople andvarious artists, authors and scientists.Our environmental program at Kubaka established new practices for landreclamation associated with hard rock mines. Even before operations ceased,considerable work had been done to reclaim the land disturbed by mining. Afteroperations ended in 2006, Kinross became the first company in the Magadanregion to conduct reclamation activities on the surface of a tailings dam.One additional but very key benefit to the community – which reflects the quality ofthe Kubaka operation – is that former employees have been in high demand at othermines, not only in the Magadan region but throughout all of the Russian Federation,including Chukotka, as Kinross builds the operating team for Kupol.Page 25 Kinross 2007 corporate responsibility report