Kinross received subpoenas for the information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in July and in March and December of last year year, along with a similar request from the U.S. justice department in 2014.Mark Blinch/Reuters
U.S. authorities are seeking information from Kinross Gold Corp. about alleged improper government payments at its West African mining operations, the gold company said.
Kinross received subpoenas for the information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in July and in March and December of last year, along with a similar request from the U.S. justice department in 2014.
The subpoenas, which were disclosed after markets closed on Friday, do not mean that Kinross violated any laws. However it is another headache for the Canadian miner grappling with four consecutive years of falling gold prices and investor concerns over political risk at its biggest mines in Russia.
The subpoenas come after Kinross said it received information in August, 2013, that alleged improper payments were made to government officials at its African operations.
After receiving the information, Kinross said it immediately hired outside lawyers to conduct an "objective internal investigation" into the allegations.
Kinross said it is co-operating fully with U.S. authorities. The company said its internal investigation, now going on for the past 25 months, has not identified issues that it believes would materially hurt its balance sheet or gold operations.
It is unclear whether the allegations of wrongdoing occurred at its Tasiast mine in Mauritania, an asset it has mostly written down, or at its gold mine in Ghana.
This is the first time Kinross has disclosed the internal probe.
Rachelle Younglai