Corporate Responsibility

This Corporate Responsibility report marks the 10th anniversary of our formal CR reporting program, and it is being published as Kinross celebrates its 25th anniversary. During the past 25 years, we have grown from a small gold producer with annual gold production of 83,000 gold equivalent ounces to a global senior gold producer with approximately 2.5 million Au eq. oz. in annual production. We have also evolved our Corporate Responsibility programs during this time and I am proud of the successes that we have achieved.

At the heart of our success is our people, and our four core values: Putting People First; High Performance Culture; Rigorous Financial Discipline; and Outstanding Corporate Citizenship. These core values provide a common ground for everything we do, and help us harness the breadth of cultures, traditions and viewpoints of our diverse global workforce.

I’m proud to work for Kinross, and of our accomplishments – not only in terms of our operational and financial performance, but also in terms of the livelihoods we create and the benefits we are able to generate in host countries and communities where our operations are located.

It takes a lot of effort and focus to achieve these results, and this report documents in comprehensive detail our approach and performance on a wide range of material issues, from ethics to supply chain, to employee engagement and reclamation. In its simplest terms our approach is distilled into four main areas:

• Being protective of our environment – we have to manage our operations in a way that protects our workforce, the environment, and our host communities from negative impacts;

• Making a positive contribution – we go beyond avoiding negative impacts and also make a positive contribution by creating opportunities for meaningful livelihoods for our employees, opportunities for our suppliers, and improvements in our communities;

• Acting ethically and transparently – as important as what we do is how we do it – ethically, with respect for human rights, and in engagement with stakeholders.

• Continuous Improvement – we strive to continuously improve our approach to corporate responsibility.

Just as we do in other areas of our business, we strive to continuously improve our approach to corporate responsibility.

Looking back on our performance over the two years, safety, as always, remains our top priority. While we have achieved some of the lowest injury frequency rates we have ever had as a company, it was overshadowed by the fatality of one of our employees at our Kupol mine in November 2017. This was the first employee fatality since 2012 at one of our mine sites – and it drives home the importance of always keeping safety as our first priority. We value the health and safety of our employees above all other priorities, and, as described in the Health and Safety section of this report, we are taking steps to leverage the success in reducing injury frequency rates to prevent serious injuries and fatalities from happening.

In other areas of performance, this report documents a wide range of success stories in all aspects of our Corporate Responsibility programs. I would highlight a few examples:

• Our partnership at our Mineral Hill reclamation site with Trout Unlimited and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation stands apart as a leading example of Kinross’ commitment to achieve positive benefits for the environment and local community by protecting important fish and wildlife habitat near Yellowstone National Park. Watch the Video

• In Paracatu, we work closely with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local farmers to improve water conservation, delivering cleaner water and greater flow rates, enabling irrigation and providing more water for local households. Watch the Video

• In Mauritania, our Tasiast mine is a leading example of how Kinross is contributing positively to improving well-being and prosperity in host communities through our benefit footprint. Our studies show significant positive changes in a wide range of key socio-economic indicators since 2011. To learn more, see Contributing to Sustainable Development in Rural Mauritania.

• At our operations in Chile and Russia, we work closely with local indigenous communities to help them advance local priorities to strengthen and preserve indigenous culture. In Russia, we are supporting programs directed to indigenous youth living in the far northeast which are opening up new career opportunities and enabling young people to stay and thrive in the region. Watch the Video

We also recognize that we face challenges as a normal part of our business, and we are working to manage them. This includes managing ongoing issues pertaining to water availability in Brazil and Chile, and stakeholder expectations in Mauritania. We strive to continuously improve how we address these issues, and we provide comprehensive and transparent information in how we do this in the body of this report.

We have also made improvements in our Guiding Principles for Corporate Responsibility, updated our approach for independent review of tailings dam safety, and we have articulated eight People Commitments to strengthen and evolve our Company's culture.

I am confident that the exceptional people we have at Kinross will continue to achieve strong results in our Corporate Responsibility programs and that we will continue to manage and address new issues that will inevitably arise by remaining true to our core values.

As always, I am deeply grateful to the communities where we operate for their continuing co-operation, partnership and support. I pledge that we will continue to work hard to maintain and earn the respect and trust of our stakeholders worldwide, and to meet the highest standards of responsible mining