Kinross sees growth prospects in Russia: CEO

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Canadian miner Kinross Gold (K.TO) will continue to explore possibilities to expand its operations in Russia, Chief Executive Tye Burt said on Tuesday.

"I would say Russia has a very rich mineral endowment and if we can operate there with partnerships as successfully as we have, we will continue to make investments," said Burt, speaking at the Reuters Global Mining Summit in New York.

Kinross already operates the Julietta mine, in the Magadan region of Russia. The mine was acquired as a part of its acquisition of Bema Gold Corp.

The company will soon become one of Russia's largest gold miners when the Kupol project in Chukotka is fully operational. The mine, which is due to begin operations in May 2008, is forecast to produce about 550,000 ounces of gold per year from 2009.

"The old truism in the gold business is you have to go where the gold is, and we think it is important to always have a balanced portfolio of geographies," said Burt.

Russian gold miners are expecting the country's gold production to increase for the first time in five years, spurred largely by new production from the Kupol project.

Kinross owns 75 percent of the Kupol project, with the remaining 25 percent stake held by the Chukotka government.

The company expects its share of the production from the project to be about 365,000 to 390,000 gold equivalent ounces in 2008.

Russia accounts for about 6.6 percent of world gold output and is ranked fifth in terms of production last year, but it has reserves second only to South Africa's.

"Russia is a part of our portfolio and happens to be a part that we like," said Burt.

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)

(Reporting by Euan Rocha, editing by Matthew Lewis)