Kinross Gold Corporation Disclosure Required By
Section 303a-11 Of NYSE’s Listed Company Manual
Although Kinross is not required to comply
with most of the New York Stock Exchange listing standards
regarding corporate governance, Kinross has adopted similar
standards as part of its corporate governance practices. The
following outlines our corporate governance practices as
compared to the NYSE standards.
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1 |
Listed companies must have a majority of independent
directors. |
We have a majority of
“independent” directors who qualify as such under the
requirements set out in Section 303A.02 of the NYSE
rules. |
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2 |
In order to tighten the definition of “independent
director” for purposes of these standards: |
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2(a) |
No director qualifies as “independent” unless the board
of directors affirmatively determines that the director
has no material relationship with the listed company
(either directly or as a partner, shareholder or officer
of an organization that has a relationship with the
company). Companies must identify which directors are
independent and disclose the basis for that
determination. |
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2(b) |
In addition, a director is not independent if:
(i) The director is, or has been within the last
three years, an employee of the listed company, or an
immediate family member is, or has been within the last
three years, an executive officer, of the listed
company. |
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(ii) The director has received, or has an immediate
family member who has received, during any twelve-month
period within the last three years, more than $100,000
in direct compensation from the listed company, other
than director and committee fees and pension or other
forms of deferred compensation for prior service
(provided such compensation is not contingent in any way
on continued service. |
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(iii) (A) The director or an immediate family member is
a current partner of a firm that is the company’s
internal or external auditor; (B) the director is a
current employee of such a firm; |
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(C) the director has an immediate family member who is a
current employee of such a firm and who participates in
the firm’s audit, assurance or tax compliance (but not
tax planning) practice; or (D) the director or an
immediate family member was within the last three years
(but is no longer) a partner or employee of such a firm
and personally worked on the listed company’s audit
within that time. |
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(iv) The director or an immediate family member is, or
has been within the last three years, employed as an
executive officer of another company where any of the
listed company’s present executive officers at the same
time serves or served on that company’s compensation
committee. |
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(v) The director is a current employee, or an immediate
family member is a current executive officer, of a
company that has made payments to, or received payments
from, the listed company for property or services in an
amount which, in any of the last three fiscal years,
exceeds the greater of $1 million, or 2% of such other
company’s consolidated gross revenues. |
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3 |
To empower non-management directors to serve as a more
effective check on
management, the non-management directors of each listed
company must meet
at regularly scheduled executive sessions without
management. |
Non-management
directors meet without management before each quarterly
Board meeting. |
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4(a) |
Listed companies must have a nominating/corporate
governance committee composed entirely of independent
directors. |
Kinross has a
Nominating Committee and a Corporate Governance
Committee, both of which are entirely composed of
independent directors. |
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4(b) |
The nominating/corporate governance committee must have
a written charter that addresses:
(i) the committee’s purpose and responsibilities –
which, at minimum, must be to: identify individuals
qualified to become board members, consistent with
criteria approved by the board, and to select, or to
recommend that the board select, the director nominees
for the next annual meeting of shareholders; develop and
recommend to the board a set of corporate governance
guidelines applicable to the corporation; and oversee
the evaluation of the board and management; and
(ii) an annual performance evaluation of the
committee. |
Kinross’ Nominating
Committee and Corporate Governance Committee have
Charters that include these minimum requirements.
However, the function of evaluating management has been
delegated to the Compensation Committee. |
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5(a) |
Listed companies must have a compensation committee
composed entirely of independent directors. |
Kinross has a
Compensation Committee composed entirely of independent
directors. |
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5(b) |
The compensation committee must have a written charter
that addresses:
(i) the committee’s purpose and responsibilities –
which, at minimum, must be to have direct responsibility
to:
(A) review and approve corporate goals and objectives
relevant to CEO compensation, evaluate the CEO’s
performance in light of those goals and objectives, and,
either as a committee or together with the other
independent directors (as directed by the board),
determine and approve the CEO’s compensation level based
on this evaluation; and
(B) make recommendations to the board with respect to
non-CEO
executive officer compensation, and
incentive-compensation and equity-based plans that are
subject to board approval; and
(C) produce a compensation committee report on executive
officer
compensation as required by the SEC to be included in
the listed
company’s annual proxy statement or annual report on
Form 10-K
filed with the SEC;
(ii) an annual performance evaluation of the
compensation committee. |
The Compensation
Committee Charter includes in substance all of these
responsibilities and other additional responsibilities.
The Compensation Committee reports on executive
compensation in Kinross’ annual proxy statement in
accordance with Form 51-102F6 of National Instrument
51-102. |
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6 |
Listed companies must have an audit committee that
satisfies the requirements of Rule 10A-3 under the
Exchange Act. |
Kinross has an Audit
Committee which satisfies the requirements of Rule 10A-3
under the Exchange Act. |
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7(a) |
The audit committee must have a minimum of three
members. |
Our Audit Committee
is composed of at least three members. |
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7(b) |
In addition to any requirement of Rule 10A-3(b)(1), all
audit committee members must satisfy the requirements
for independence set out in Section 303A.02. |
All the members of
our Audit Committee are fully independent in accordance
with these requirements. |
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7(c) |
The audit committee must have a written charter that
addresses:
(i) the committee’s purpose – which, at minimum, must
be to:
(A) assist board oversight of (1) the integrity of the
listed company’s financial statements, (2) the listed
company’s compliance with legal and regulatory
requirements, (3) the independent auditor’s
qualifications and independence, and (4) the performance
of the listed company’s internal audit function and
independent auditors; and |
Our Audit Committee
has a written charter that meets all NYSE requirements
except for the variations outlined below.
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(B) prepare an audit committee report as required by
the SEC to be included in the listed company’s annual
proxy statement; |
The SEC does not
specify an audit committee report to be included in the
proxy materials of a foreign private issuer. |
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(ii) an annual performance evaluation of the audit
committee; and |
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(iii) the duties and responsibilities of the audit
committee – which, at a minimum, must include those set
out in Rule 10A-3(b)(2), (3), (4) and (5) of the
Exchange Act , as well as to:
(A) at least annually, obtain and review a report by the
independent auditor describing: the firm’s internal
quality-control procedures; any material issues raised
by the most recent internal quality-control review, or
peer review, of the firm, or by any inquiry or
investigation by governmental or professional
authorities, within the preceding five years, respecting
one or more independent audits carried out by the firm,
and any steps taken to deal with any such issues; and
(to assess the auditor’s independence) all relationships
between the independent auditor and the listed company;
(B) meet to review and discuss the listed company’s
annual audited financial statements and quarterly
financial statements with management and the independent
auditor, including reviewing the company’s specific
disclosures under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis
of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”; |
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(C) discuss the listed company’s earnings press
releases, as well as financial information and earnings
guidance provided to analysts and rating agencies;
(D) discuss policies with respect to risk assessment and
risk management; |
The Risk Committee of the Board of
Directors is responsible for business and operational
risks. The Audit Committee is responsible for financial
and internal control risks. |
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(E) meet separately, periodically, with management, with
internal auditors (or other personnel responsible for
the internal audit function) and with independent
auditors;
(F) review with the independent auditor any audit
problems or difficulties and management’s response;
(G) set clear hiring policies for employees or former
employees of the independent auditors; and
(H) report regularly to the board of directors. |
The Audit Committee
Charter states that the Audit Committee may meet with
management, and/or the internal audit function, and/or
the independent auditors either individually or
collectively. |
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7(d) |
Each listed company must have an internal audit
function. |
We have an internal
audit function. |
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8 |
Shareholders must be given the opportunity to vote on
all equity-compensation plans and material revisions
thereto. |
Except as disclosed
in its annual management information circular,
amendments to Kinross’ equity compensation plans require
shareholders’ approval. |
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9 |
Listed companies must adopt and disclose corporate
governance guidelines.
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Kinross complies with Canadian
Multilateral Instrument 52-110-Audit Committees
which sets out detailed requirements regarding the
composition of the Audit Committee and its
responsibilities. Kinross has also adopted most
guidelines provided by Canadian National Policy 58-201-Corporate
Governance Guidelines. Our
annual proxy circulars include disclosure of our
corporate governance practices. |
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10 |
Listed companies must adopt and disclose a code of
business conduct and ethics for directors, officers and
employees, and promptly disclose any waivers of the code
for directors or executive officers.
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We have a code of
business conduct and ethics, which is
available in our
website or at
www.sedar.com. |
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11 |
Listed foreign private issuers must disclose any
significant ways in which their corporate governance
practices differ from those followed by domestic
companies under NYSE listing standards. |
This list is posted
in response to this requirement. |
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12(a) |
Each listed company CEO must certify to the NYSE each
year that he or she is not aware of any violation by the
company of NYSE corporate governance listing standards,
qualifying the certification to the extent necessary. |
This does not apply
to a foreign private issuer. |
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12(b) |
Each listed company CEO must promptly notify the NYSE in
writing after any executive officer of the listed
company becomes aware of any material noncompliance with
any applicable provisions of this Section 303A. |
Kinross is subject to
and will comply with this requirement. |
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12(c) |
Each listed company must submit an executed Written
Affirmation annually to the NYSE. In addition, each
listed company must submit an interim Written
Affirmation each time a change occurs to the board or
any of the committees subject to Section 303A. The
annual and interim Written Affirmations must be in the
form specified by the NYSE. |
Kinross is subject to
and will comply with this requirement on an ongoing
basis. |
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13 |
N/A |
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14 |
Listed companies must have and maintain a publicly
available website. |
We maintain our
website at
www.kinross.com, which contains copies of our Board
and Committee charters, our code of ethics and various
other corporate governance materials. |