Kinross (NYSE:KGC) Believes Tasiast Mine Undervalued

There's not doubt the jewel of the upcoming merger between Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) and Red Back Mining is Red Back's Tasiast mine in Mauritania.

Kinross Gold Corp. President and CEO Tye Burt gets an excited look in his eye when he talks about his belief that the mine has much larger reserves than thought by most analysts.

Talk like that has also got shareholders and potential investors excited as well, leading up the the September 15 meeting where the shareholders from both companies will get together to talk over the merger, which is a friendly one.

What's exciting everyone about Tasiast, is there are currently about 5 million gold ounce reserves at the mine, with consensus saying there are probably closer to 15 million. And if Burt is correct, he's talking reserves beyond the 15 million ounce mark.

With Kinross having about 45 million ounces of gold reserves now, and if the numbers go a lot higher than 15 million ounces of gold at Tasiast, it would be a huge deal, as it could come close to being almost half of what they had before the deal.

Kinross is also looking at building a new mill which will increase capacity by 7 to 8 times what the current mill does in a day, which is to process about 8,000 to 10,000 tons of ore.

After the completion of the million is could run up to 60,000 tons at capacity.

If the upcoming deal is approved by shareholders, it should only take several days to close it.

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) Names Brant Hinze as New Chief Operating Officer

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) announced outgoing chief operating officer Tim Baker's replacement as Brant Hinze. Baker had announced his retirement in the early part of 2010.

Hinze formally worked for U.S.-based mining giant Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) as senior vice president of North American operations.

"We are delighted to welcome an industry leader of Brant's calibre to our Senior Leadership Team," said Tye Burt, President and CEO in a press release. "Brant has an exceptional track record and significant operating experience in several key mining regions of the world. We're confident that under his leadership our global operations will continue to live up to the highest standards of safety and corporate responsibility, while generating superior value for our shareholders, employees and local communities."

Hinze will officially step into his new role on October 1, 2010.