The Project company, Tasiast Mauritanie Limited S.A. (TMLSA) is a limited liability company incorporated in October 2003 under the laws of Mauritania. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corporation (Kinross), the Sponsor. Kinross is a Toronto-based publicly listed company (NYSE and TSX) with a market capitalization of US$5.3 billion (July 29, 2019). Kinross is one of the five largest gold producers in the world, with a diverse portfolio of mines and exploration projects in West Africa, Russia and the Americas. Kinross’ shareholding is mostly institutional investors with Van Eck Associates Corporation, an asset management firm, BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Ltd., a private equity firm, and Ruffer LLP., an asset management firm being the largest shareholders with 14.05%, 9.27% and 5.32% shareholding respectively.

 Total Project cost is estimated at US$822 million to be financed by US$300 million in debt and US$522 million in equity. IFC will provide up to US$62 million in IFC A Loan and US$93 million in Trust Loans. In addition, IFC will mobilize up to US$70 million in B1 Loans from commercial banks. The IFC A and Trust loans will be for a tenor of up to ten years.

 The Project is located in north-western Mauritania, about 300 km north of Nouakchott (capital) and 250 km southeast of Nouâdhibou, a major city located on the coast. Access to site from Nouakchott is by the paved Nouakchott-Nouâdhibou highway (370km), and then via 66 km of graded mine access road to the mine. The location is remote and sparsely populated with no incorporated towns or settlements located near the mine. About 300 nomadic people (70 households) live semi-nomadic style within a 30 km radius from the mine site.

 The governance risk to development impact is low. The Project is already delivering significant impacts to the economy through government revenue, direct and indirect employment and transfer of skills. Mauritania is one of the early signatories to the Extractive Industries Transparent Initiative (EITI) in 2006, achieving full compliance under the old generation of EITI principles in 2012. With the introduction of the more rigorous EITI Standards in 2016, Mauritania is currently rated “Meaningful Progress”. The World Bank’s ongoing Mauritania Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Consolidation Project is focused on addressing some of the gaps identified in the latest EITI review and supporting the country to re-gain full EITI compliance. The Sponsor is also fully committed to best practices in terms of governance. 

 This is a Category A project according to IFC’s Policy on Environmental and Social Sustainability in consideration of potentially significant and diverse environmental and social risks related to the project construction and operations. Environmental risks which are considered to be significant include water abstraction and resource use; hazardous materials use (including cyanide) and hazardous waste generation (i.e. tailings); waste generation (including waste rock and general domestic waste); air emissions; security risks; impact on archaeology and cultural resources; population influx; labor issues and workers’ and community health and safety risks.