Kinross to mine on Marte
Bright sunshine makes recent snowfall sparkle under a piercing blue sky and, high in the Chilean Andes in the Atacama region, the east of Copiapo.
And sparkle it might, as surging gold prices and a considerable gold inventory mean Chile's Maricunga district will likely become a key source of future growth for Kinross Gold as it leverages its existing La Coipa mine infrastructure to potentially develop the Lobo-Marte deposit and restart operations at Maricunga. In addition to La Coipa's own extension potential, Kinross owns the Lobo-Marte and Maricunga deposits, which host 10Moz and 12Moz respectively.
While production from Chile is currently about 200,000ozpa of the company's 2Mozpa, that could bridge to Lobo-Marte, which is envisioned as a 300,000+kozpa operation, per the latest studies. This potential sees Kinross chief executive Paul Rollinson regularly visiting Chile to chart the way ahead.
"The gold price is a driver. We have a number of potential deposits in the area that start making sense," Afjal Hashim, SVP operations South America, told Mining Journal during a site visit.
"We are trying to create a long-term view at La Coipa that goes beyond three years. With Lobo-Marte, we can secure another 16 years of presence in Chile.
"Lobo-Marte will help the company achieve its aim of maintaining total production at around 2Mozpa with potential for additional production. It will be a low-cost producer, and so should help reduce the all-in sustaining cost in the future," Max Combes, SVP strategic growth Chile, told Mining Journal.
La Coipa extensionMining at La Coipa stopped in 2013 due to low gold prices and restarted in 2022 on the back of exploration success as gold prices began to recover, ramping to steady state production in 2023. It has permits valid until 2027 and is working to obtain a permit extension to bridge production until it can bring Lobo-Marte online.
The potential at La Coipa can be seen from the 4900m Antenna Hill, which overlooks the two current pits and four historical pits, some of which still have production potential. There are also several nearby satellite deposits under development.
"We have so much potential on the land package we have, and that we already know about," Matthew Rovardi, regional director of exploration, South America, told Mining Journal. La Coipa is a high-sulphidation epithermal deposit with a strong silver component, similar to the Diablillos deposit that Abrasilver is exploring in Salta, Argentina, in which Kinross has invested, and that Mining Journal recently visited. The region's mineral potential was discovered about a century ago through silver mining.
In more recent times, the Maricunga region was the subject of seminal work on gold-rich porphyry systems by legendary geologist Richard Sillitoe, who sampled the alteration he observed during visits to the former silver mines. He found high-grade gold and silver in an area that became the Ladera Farallon pit, the oldest former pit at La Coipa.
Rovardi said La Coipa is a textbook epithermal porphyry, telescoping near surface, in which the temperature and hydrostatic pressure changes drop mineralisation out: first the copper, then gold and lastly silver on top. Having worked the area for 20 years, Kinross geologists have developed a keen understanding of the geological processes that Rovardi and his team are using to support future development.
For example, gold typically drops out at elevations of 4000-4200m, an observation that has guided exploration, not just by Kinross, but also by Gold Fields at its Salares Norte project elsewhere in the district.
"There is still a lot to discover. We have developed knowledge and are applying it at a high exploration level. Pit extensions are a priority and will be the focus of our work over the next two years," said Rovardi. With the deposits hosting varied and variable mineralisation, learning also includes how to process it.
"The geological and geo-metallurgical models are growing and improving from experience and operating knowledge. This means we can pursue mineralisation that was previously seen as difficult to process," said Rovardi. MiningKinross operates 14 Caterpillar 785 150t haul trucks in the pit. While a relatively small operation, it is helping to raise the technology and safety bar, applying lessons learned at other Kinross operations.
"We pushed Caterpillar to install four-point safety harnesses in the trucks, which is now standard," said VP and general manager Adriano Neto. The mine also uses TireTraker sensors to monitor tyre temperature and pressure in real time, alerting drivers to excessive heat.
In addition to maintaining pit roads in good condition and performing tyre rotation, Kinross achieves 9000-12,000 hours of tyre usage, compared with the 6000-hour industry benchmark. Another technical accolade at La Coipa is that its truck shop holds a three-star certification from Caterpillar, the only one in Chile to do so and one of only two in Latin America. The truck shop is spotless, resembling a high-end auto restoration business.
The shop can do a full truck strip-down to the chassis for planned component replacement and rebuild in 28 days, having benefited from lessons learned at the Tasiast mine in Mauritania, where Hashim was previously general manager three years.
"This includes repairing any cracks in the chassis, replacing the powertrain, the hydraulics, the airlines and the electrical systems, and the cabin. This reduces failures and the equipment's cost per hour. It costs about $1 million and adds five years to the truck life, whereas a new 150t class haul truck would cost costs $4-5 million," said Neto. Trucks will likely be a key success feature in the development of Lobo-Marte.
The recent increase in oil prices means Kinross will be looking at hybrid truck options for Lobo-Marte, and maybe even full electrification or trolley assist, although no fleet decisions have yet been made. Kinross uses some hybrid trucks at Tasiast in Mauritania, where the company also installed a US$55 million, 34MW solar plant in 2024 with 18MW battery storage – supplying greater than 20% of the entire site's power needs.
"We will tap into the technology when it has been commercially proven, and where it makes sense. Hybrid systems have no clutch, so they use energy more efficiently, with 3-5% lower diesel consumption. The higher torque means they are more reliable on ramps, which is a safety benefit. An electric drive has less hosing and cabling, which is the main cause of truck fires," said Neto.
The La Coipa plant features a primary crusher with a throughput capacity of about 20,000tpd and a grinding circuit comprising a SAG mill and two ball mills, with a capacity of about 13,000tpd. These feed minerals into a leach circuit, a countercurrent washing circuit, and a Merrill-Crowe circuit to produce gold doré, with the pulp going to a filter press and the dry tailings deposited using a radial stacker.
GreenfieldFirst up on the greenfield development plate for Kinross in Chile is Lobo-Marte, some 50km from La Coipa. That distance may limit operational synergies, however, the benefit Lobo-Marte may receive from La Coipa is a water source. Kinross has water rights for 1600lps and is using just 4% of that.
"Our base case plan is to use the same water wells we have been using at La Coipa, transitioning the water from La Coipa to Lobo-Marte once La Coipa extensions finish at the end of the decade," said Combes. Given the low water usage required for the projects, Kinross is exploring alternative continental water sources.
Among the alternatives are permitting current water rights, exploring the transfer of water rights in protected areas to less restrictive areas, and applying for new water rights outside protected areas. The company says that desalination is an inefficient alternative today due to the low water flows required and the distance and elevation at which the projects are located; however, it cannot be ruled out as a potential alternative.
"The government is restricting the use of continental water, but that is focused on the large copper mines that consume 1000lps and above. Based on our 66lps water use and analysis at La Coipa, we are not causing damage to the water basin, and we expect to demonstrate to the Chilean authorities that this will also be the case for Lobo-Marte," said Combes.
Kinross is also studying the potential to restart of its 12Moz Maricunga mine, which has been on care and maintenance since 2016. While Maricunga has some infrastructure, Kinross needs to complete economic and environmental studies, and more importantly, find a suitable water source. Maricunga is about 80km from La Coipa. CooperationSourcing water will be a challenge for other developers in the region.
In addition to the three Kinross projects, the region sees Rio2 looking to expand its recently developed Fenix gold mine, Tiernan Gold looking to develop its 9Moz Volcan deposit, and, further in the future, Mineros is advancing the earlier-stage Las Pepas project that it recently consolidated, which suggests infrastructure cooperation is in their collective future. Cooperation among miners in Chile was a theme at the 2026 CRU World Copper Congress in Santiago.
"This industry needs more collaboration and cooperation. Mining has been slow on this," said Maximo Pacheco, chair of Chile's state copper company Codelco. The Lobo-Marte access road is also used by Volcan, so there may be a shared effort to upgrade it. Chile's government wants to avoid the development of multiple power lines, as several companies eye La Coipa's power line.
"If you are not using your allocation, anyone can request it. You need an EIA and a real project to obtain allocation. We have already requested capacity for Lobo- Marte. There is fierce competition for the remaining capacity.
While we support sector cooperation, it is not entirely straightforward," said Combes. The availability of labour will be another constraint on future development.
In addition to the Maricunga district having two or three new developments to add to its two existing mines, companies will also face competition from developments in the nearby Vicuña district, such as the Josemaria project in San Juan, Argentina.
"While labour is one of the biggest considerations for the project, we have an execution plan to mitigate this," said Combes. The site visit showed that Kinross has developed a high level of loyalty among its workforce by showing workers a path for personal and career development in Chile and at its operations elsewhere in the world. It also provides workers with a relatively high degree of comfort at its La Coipa camp and Copiapo campus-like office.
The potential number of projects advancing simultaneously will also strain contractor availability, especially if Lundin Mining and BHP go ahead and make a construction decision on the Vicuña phase one at the end of 2026. Combes said that labour availability will likely influence the project construction sequence.
"Construction has a peak, and you optimise the camp for that peak according to the critical path. We intend to be creative and maybe make the construction camp bigger and better. We may have to do things in sequence rather than the optimised way to avoid impacts.
""For example, we are looking to increase the level of modularisation to eliminate hours from on-site project execution. ""There are many workers available in cities, but it is difficult to attract and retain people at an elevation of 4000 m. We need to be realistic about our construction plans, as we know there will be significant rotation. We are starting to work with the authorities and local companies to train people in 40 trades in the region," said Combes.
With Kinross potentially having three assets itself, that could overcome some of these challenges.
"With three assets in the Maricunga area, we can generate leverage with our suppliers," said Combes. KastMiners view the election of Antonio Kast as president of Chile as positive for the mining sector, and with his government looking to accelerate permitting times and avoid the duplication among sectoral and environmental permitting, there is a feeling that a lot can be achieved during the next four years.
"This is a more favourable development environment, but that doesn't guarantee that you will have it fast or easy," said Combes. "President Kast is asking different sectors how he can help and speed things up. He wants to establish guidelines and timelines for consultation processes. We have seen good dialogue in the last month," said Hashim.
La Coipa Lobo-Marte Maricunga Maricunga Belt Fenix Vicuña District Richard Sillitoe
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