Kinross Gold CEO sees ‘very low’ risk of unrest spreading to Mauritania

(Reuters) – Canadian gold miner Kinross Gold said it saw a “very low” risk of political unrest in Mali spreading to Mauritania, its neighbour to the north where Kinross has a gold mine with plans to expand.

“We don’t see the Mali issue coming to Mauritania,” CEO Paul Rollinson told the Gold Forum Americas conference.

Mali’s president was toppled in a coup last month, further destabilising a country battling a jihadist insurgency and civil unrest.

Kinross’s Tasiast mine in Mauritania produced 391,097 ounces of gold equivalent in 2019. Its West African operations – Tasiast, and Chirano in Ghana – together account for 23% of the miner’s overall gold production.

The company in June resolved a dispute with Mauritania’s government, securing the development of its new project Tasiast Sud.

Kinross last week announced plans to boost output and reinstated a quarterly dividend for the first time since 2013.

(Reporting by Helen Reid and Jeff Lewis, Editing by David Evans)