Mr. J. Paul Rollinson reports

KINROSS RELEASES 2022 SUSTAINABILITY AND ESG REPORT

Kinross Gold Corp. has published its 2022 sustainability and environmental, social and governance report, providing a comprehensive summary of the company's progress over the past year in furthering its environmental, social and governance strategy.

"Sustainability is a critical component of our business and every facet of our operations at Kinross," said J. Paul Rollinson, president and chief executive officer. "Building on the solid sustainability foundation we've established over three decades, we have updated our ESG strategy, focusing on three pillars: work force and community, natural capital, and climate and energy. We see each pillar as a key focus area for us, with short- and long-term performance targets embedded into our business. Our updated ESG strategy and sharpened focus will enhance the management of our social and environmental performance in a transparent, collaborative and responsible manner, generating long-term value for our stakeholders."

Kinross's sustainability and ESG report, now in its 15th year, provides a comprehensive update to the company's stakeholders on the progress made in 2022 and what the company aims to achieve in 2023 and beyond. Kinross's 2022 sustainability and ESG report, available at the Kinross website, details the company's approach to responsible mining that underpins its operational success. The foundation of Kinross's ESG governance structure is its core values, commitment to key international frameworks and standards, and safety and sustainability policy, which ground the company's first priorities, and its commitment to environmental stewardship, social responsibility and governance.

In 2022, Kinross strengthened its oversight of the ESG function with the establishment of an ESG executive committee, which has taken a leadership role in ESG risk management, enhanced transparency and reporting, as well as identifying ESG opportunities within the business. Additionally, Kinross enhanced its ESG metric in the executive short-term incentive compensation plan by increasing its weighting from 20 per cent to 25 per cent with the addition of a new ESG initiative metric. This metric focused on updating the company's ESG strategy and diversity action plan, and, in 2023, will focus on the Tasiast solar plant, climate studies, Kinross's diversity strategy and supply chain governance. The company believes this is a logical progression as it identifies performance goals for its key ESG initiatives.

Kinross further enhanced its ESG governance by obtaining external assurance on its conformance with the Responsible Gold Mining Principles (RGMP) established by the World Gold Council. The company also obtained external assurance on selected ESG metrics. It continued to strengthen its ESG governance with the establishment of a human rights task force, which is developing an action plan for 2023 and beyond.

The company's 2022 ESG highlights and achievements contained in the report include the following.

Work force and community:

• Maintained low injury frequency rates that were in line with three-year averages and continued to make improvements across all leading indicators of safety performance;
• Continued to roll out safety excellence program, currently being implemented at Paracatu and La Coipa, following the successful execution of the program at Tasiast in 2022; the safety excellence program focuses on empowering its people and advancing its performance across all leading indicators of safety;
• Generated $2.9-billion (U.S.) in economic benefits to host countries through taxes, wages, procurement and community support; since 2010, $44-billion (U.S.) has been contributed to the economies of Kinross's host countries;
• Sustained high levels of local employment with 99 per cent of its work force and 87 per cent of management from within host countries;
• Advanced diversity, equity and inclusion targets, achieving 13.3-per-cent-female participation in Kinross's work force, the highest level in five years;
• Continued to build open and honest relationships with indigenous peoples in the areas it operates to understand common interests and how it can work together for mutual benefit.

Natural capital:

• Maintained record of zero reportable incidents at its tailings sites for the 30th consecutive year, with independent reviews conducted at 100 per cent of its sites in the past three years;
• Enhanced its tailings governance through increasing its tailings review program from one independent reviewer to a panel, with three independent reviewers for Paracatu and two each for the other sites;
• Water intensity declined by 8 per cent from 2021 to 2022, driven by more tonnes processed versus 2021 and a large decline in net water storage at Paracatu;
• Completed its eighth year of partnership with Trout Unlimited, with which it has implemented river conservation projects in Alaska, Nevada and Washington State;
• Continued its efforts to protect land for conservation, with 13,620 hectares protected at end of year, most of which were at Paracatu.

Climate and energy:

• Introduced first climate change strategy, which outlines a comprehensive greenhouse gas reduction plan on its path to net zero by 2050, setting an interim target to achieve a 30-per-cent reduction of Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emission intensity (on a per-gold-equivalent-ounce basis) over the 2021 baseline by 2030;
• Lowered GHG intensity rates in 2022 and the company is on track toward 2030 target;
• Implemented 11 energy efficiency projects across global operations, offsetting approximately 1 per cent of Kinross's GHG emissions, resulting in $7.5-million (U.S.) of savings to the company;
• Increased percentage of renewable energy to 22 per cent of its total energy consumed in 2022 compared with 18 per cent in 2021, with 63 per cent of electricity consumed from renewable sources; at Paracatu and La Coipa, electricity from renewable sources is 98 per cent and 100 per cent, respectively.

Recognition:

• Achieved highest S&P ESG Global rating in 2022, ranking in the 97th percentile, the highest ever placement for Kinross, improved Sustainalytics risk rating score with a significant 10-point improvement and maintained A position with MSCI for the third consecutive year;
• In the Globe and Mail's annual ranking for corporate governance among Canadian companies, scored 93 out of 100, making Kinross the top-ranked mining company;
• Received the Alaska Miners Association's environmental stewardship award for best management practices in environmental protection or restoration initiatives for the company's partnership with Trout Unlimited to create the Alaska abandoned mine initiative;
• Received the leadership in concurrent mine reclamation award at Bald Mountain for excellence in mine reclamation from the Nevada Division of Minerals, Department of Wildlife, Division of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Forest Services.

About Kinross Gold Corp.

Kinross is a Canadian-based global senior gold mining company with operations and projects in the United States, Brazil, Mauritania, Chile and Canada. Its focus on delivering value is based on its core principles of responsible mining, operational excellence, disciplined growth and balance sheet strength. Kinross maintains listings on the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol: K) and the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: KGC).