Kinross Gold’s Great Bear fast-track: project economics and schedule for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Ontario has moved Kinross Gold’s C$1.4 billion Great Bear project into its One Project One Process fast-track regime, targeting mine approvals in about two years instead of the decade-plus typical for the province, alongside Canada Nickel’s Crawford and Frontier Lithium’s PAK projects. Great Bear, a combined open-pit and underground operation 500 km northwest of Thunder Bay, is planned to produce 518,000 oz/y by 2029 at an all-in sustaining cost of US$812/oz over an initial 12-year life, drawing on 30.3 Mt at 2.81 g/t Au (M&I) and 25.5 Mt at 4.74 g/t Au (inferred). The designation is linked to the planned Red Lake Transmission Line from Dryden, with regional electricity demand north of Dryden forecast to rise by up to 250% by 2050, largely from mining growth.
Technical Brief
- One Project One Process regime coordinates provincial, federal and Indigenous approvals in a single streamlined pathway.
- Great Bear is the first gold project admitted, alongside Canada Nickel’s Crawford and Frontier Lithium’s PAK.
- Provincial target is to compress permitting to about two years versus historic decade-plus timelines.
- 2024 PEA positions Great Bear among Canada’s lowest AISC gold producers at planned steady-state output.
- Kinross views Great Bear as a “generational asset” and cornerstone of its global development pipeline.
- LP, Hinge and Limb zones are the defined resource areas underpinning the combined open-pit/underground plan.
- Red Lake Transmission Line from Dryden is the enabling power corridor for Great Bear and nearby mines.
Our Take
With an all-in sustaining cost of US$812/oz and a 12-year initial mine life, Great Bear would sit at the lower end of the cost curve among the larger gold operations in our database, giving Kinross more resilience if prices soften versus higher-cost Ontario peers.
The C$1.4 billion capex and 2024 PEA timing place Great Bear among the larger greenfield gold builds in our recent Mining coverage, whereas most Ontario pieces in our database have focused on smaller critical-mineral projects such as Canada Nickel’s Crawford and Frontier Lithium’s PAK.
Ontario’s stated goal of cutting mine approval timelines from up to a decade to around two years, combined with a forecast 250% rise in electricity demand north of Dryden by 2050, signals that grid and transmission upgrades like the Red Lake Transmission Line will be a critical path item for both Great Bear and other gold–lithium–nickel projects in the region.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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