Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) reported second-quarter production of 492,000 gold equivalent ounces and attributable free cash flow of $727 million, as the company said it remains on track to meet its 2026 production, cost and capital-spending guidance.
Chief Executive Officer Paul Rollinson said the company generated more than $1.5 billion of free cash flow in the first half of 2026. He said Kinross continued to manage costs while benefiting from strong operating margins, with Tasiast and Paracatu accounting for more than half of quarterly production.
Financial results and capital returns
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Andrea Freeborough said Kinross recorded cost of sales of $1,336 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs of $1,821 per ounce during the quarter. The company reported margins of more than $3,100 per ounce, adjusted earnings of $0.71 per share and adjusted operating cash flow of more than $1.1 billion.
Attributable free cash flow reflected $406 million in capital expenditures and $327 million in tax payments, Freeborough said.
Kinross ended the quarter with $2.7 billion in cash and $1.9 billion in net cash after adding more than $470 million in cash and returning $275 million to shareholders during the period.
The company repurchased 7.9 million shares for $230 million in the second quarter and paid roughly $50 million through its quarterly dividend. It also repurchased an additional $40 million of shares after quarter-end. Kinross is targeting returns of 40% of free cash flow through dividends and share repurchases; its first-half capital returns represented about 37% of attributable free cash flow.
Since resuming buybacks in the second quarter of 2025, Kinross has repurchased more than $1.1 billion of shares, representing about 4% of its outstanding share count, according to Freeborough. Including dividends, the company has returned approximately $615 million in 2026 and about $1.4 billion since the beginning of 2025.
Guidance maintained as major mines deliver
Kinross reiterated its full-year outlook for approximately 2 million ounces of production, cost of sales of $1,360 per ounce, all-in sustaining costs of $1,730 per ounce and capital expenditures of about $1.5 billion.
The company expects third-quarter production to be in line with the first two quarters, followed by higher fourth-quarter production. Costs are expected to be modestly higher in the second half as U.S. operations make a greater contribution to output, though Kinross expects full-year costs to remain within guidance.
Freeborough said Kinross’s fuel hedging program provides protection against higher oil prices through 2026 and 2027. Based on the company’s guidance assumptions, each $10-per-barrel movement in oil prices would affect costs by about $10 per ounce, with up to an additional $4 per ounce from secondary effects such as freight and consumables. If recent oil prices persist, the impact on all-in sustaining costs would be less than 2%, she said.
- Paracatu: Produced 158,000 ounces at cost of sales of $1,108 per ounce and remains on track for 600,000 ounces in 2026.
- Tasiast: Produced 133,000 ounces at cost of sales of $990 per ounce, aided by higher throughput, and remains on track for 505,000 ounces this year.
- La Coipa: Produced 59,000 ounces at cost of sales of $1,395 per ounce. Kinross said the operation remains on track despite impacts from a severe winter storm in northern Chile.
- U.S. operations: Combined production totaled 142,000 ounces at cost of sales of $1,871 per ounce, as Round Mountain transitions toward Phase X development.
At Round Mountain, Chief Operating Officer Claude Schimper said the mine is in a period of higher waste mining and lower-grade, lower-volume ore supply while Phase S is stripped. Higher-grade and higher-recovery ore is expected in the second half. The company expects Round Mountain to produce roughly 120,000 to 130,000 ounces in 2026 before production builds in subsequent years.
Lobo-Marte update outlines long-term Chile growth option
Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer Will Dunford outlined an updated high-level economic assessment for the Lobo-Marte project in Chile. Based on the current reserve mine plan, Kinross expects the project to produce approximately 4.6 million ounces over an initial 15-year operating life, with average annual production of about 350,000 ounces during steady-state operations.
The company estimated initial capital of approximately $1.8 billion, all-in sustaining costs of $1,000 per ounce, a net present value of $4.3 billion and an internal rate of return of 26%, using a gold price of $4,100 per ounce. The estimated payback period is about two years.
Dunford said the project’s updated capital estimate reflects inflation since the 2021 feasibility study, the decision to purchase new equipment rather than reuse equipment from Maricunga, refinements to the execution strategy and a higher contingency allowance. The project’s Environmental Impact Assessment was accepted by Chile’s Environmental Assessment Service in April 2026.
Kinross is targeting first gold from Lobo-Marte in the early 2030s. Dunford said peak project spending is expected to follow the peak spending period at Great Bear. The company also sees potential to extend Lobo-Marte beyond the current mine plan through additional resources, pit expansions and exploration across its broader land package.
Great Bear and leadership transition
At Great Bear in Ontario, Kinross said advanced-exploration surface construction is 93% complete and the company recently completed the first blast for the exploration decline. Detailed engineering for the main project is about 50% complete, and Kinross plans to provide an initial capital update in the first half of 2027 after detailed engineering is substantially complete.
The company is targeting first production at Great Bear in late 2029, contingent on receiving final federal impact assessment approval and certain provincial permits by spring 2027. Kinross also said it recently signed a community benefits agreement with the Northwestern Ontario Métis Community and continues negotiations with Lac Seul and Wabaseemoong First Nations.
Rollinson also announced that Bernard Wessels will become chief operating officer, succeeding Schimper, who plans to retire later this year. Schimper will remain with Kinross for a period to support the transition. Wessels most recently worked at Newmont and has more than 25 years of mining experience, according to Kinross.
About Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC)
Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) is a Toronto-based precious metals mining company primarily focused on the exploration, development and production of gold, with silver recovered as a by-product at some operations. The company’s activities span the full mining lifecycle, including discovery and resource delineation, mine construction and operation, ore processing, and eventual site reclamation and closure. Kinross sells refined gold produced at its processing facilities and manages associated logistics and processing arrangements to deliver metal to market.
Kinross operates a portfolio of producing mines and development projects across multiple regions, with a significant presence in the Americas and West Africa.
