Striking gold is more about a deep understanding of geology, tectonics and mineralization than a matter of luck. Our five full-time explorers in Nevada have this knowledge in spades and are working diligently in the competitive environment of gold exploration in the state, home of our Round Mountain mine and some of the biggest gold mines in the world.
While our explorers are involved in six exploration sites across the state, the main focus has been on the Goldbanks project, a roughly 16,000 acre piece of property 200 km north of Round Mountain and owned exclusively by Kinross. It is an epithermal gold system, meaning relatively shallow, extending form the surface down to about 600 m depth. It contains both low grade bulk tonnage close to the surface and high grade potential at depth, which was identified in the winter of 2013-14.
Our Goldbanks exploration team consists of Josh Ellis and Caleb Stroup, who have been working there since 2012. Josh has been with Kinross nearly eight years and has progressed to the position of Senior Exploration Geologist. Caleb, who has been working as a consultant for Kinross for three years, just accepted a staff position with us as Exploration Geologist.
“It is exciting to be transitioning into a staff position where I can continue the work I have been doing, as well as be exposed to the career development opportunities that come with being a Kinross employee,” he writes from in the field in Nevada.
“Both of these guys are what we call ‘switched-on geos’; they eat, drink, sleep and breathe geology,” says Kelly Cluer, Regional Director of Exploration.
Josh and Caleb’s work was celebrated at the recent Geological Society of Nevada Symposium, where they showcased a paper they wrote about their exploration techniques and findings at Goldbanks.
In addition to their work at Goldbanks, Josh and Caleb are continuously upgrading the greenfields project pipeline, providing field reviews, state of the art geological models and other data analytics to identify new opportunities. We’re excited to have Caleb on board and look forward to promising exploration news from Nevada.
Caleb Stroup, Exploration Geologist and Josh Ellis, Senior Exploration Geologist
