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TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Oct. 2, 2014) – YAMANA GOLD INC. (TSX:YRI)(NYSE:AUY) (“Yamana” or “the Company”) today announced preliminary operating results for the third quarter 2014 and mid-year highlights from its 2014 exploration program.
The Company achieved record quarterly production in the third quarter in excess of 390,000 gold equivalent ounces (“GEO”)(1) at all-in sustaining cash costs(2,3) within annual guidance range of between $825 and $875 per GEO. Significant contribution and increased production was mostly from Chapada, El Peñón, Canadian Malartic, Mercedes and Pilar. This increase represents an increase of over 17% over second quarter production levels. Fourth quarter production is expected to increase further with increases coming mostly from Chapada, El Peñón, Canadian Malartic, Mercedes, Pilar and Jacobina. Yamana continues to focus on its cornerstone operations from which it is deriving greatest increase in production at lowest cost.
Yamana’s focus on exploration at existing operations continues to be a key to unlocking further value and creating value for shareholders. The emphasis of the 2014 program has been infill drilling to do the work necessary to upgrade the significant inferred mineral resource increase of 2013 and will continue to focus on finding higher quality ounces, those with the greatest potential to most quickly generate cash flow. The Company’s exploration budget for 2014 is approximately $75 million with approximately $50 million having been spent through the end of August.
The significance of results of exploration to date include the following:
| (All dollar amounts are expressed in United States dollars unless otherwise specified.) | |
| 1. | GEO assumes gold plus the gold quivalent of silver using a ratio of 50:1. |
| 2. | Refers to a non-GAAP measure. Reconciliation of non-GAAP measures are available at www.yamana.com/Q22014. |
| 3. | Includes by-product cash costs, sustaining capital, corporate general and administrative expense and exploration expense. |
“The strategic direction of our 2014 exploration program is to focus on infill drilling to upgrade the significant mineral resource increase we achieved through last year’s program. Increasing mineral resources, and ultimately mineral reserves, at our existing operations is at the core of the value added by our exploration program,” commented William Wulftange, Senior Vice President, Exploration. “We are continuing to demonstrate success with our exploration program by delivering on the plan we set-out at the beginning of the year. Impressively, we have been able to deliver results with a budget that decreased substantially from the previous year as we focus on being ever more efficient with our exploration efforts in support of the Company wide cost containment initiatives.”
Further information on the Company’s 2014 exploration update including complete drill tables and figures can be found atwww.yamana.com/2014ExplorationUpdate.
The Company has filed an updated technical report entitled “Technical Report on the Chapada Mine, Brazil”, dated July 31, 2014 on a voluntary basis to provide updated information (see www.sedar.com).
The Company has filed an updated technical report entitled “Technical Report on the Mercedes Gold-Silver Mine, Sonora State, Mexico”, dated February 25, 2014, updated as of May 31, 2014, on a voluntary basis in order to provide updated information (see www.sedar.com).
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
Yamana incorporates a rigorous Quality Assurance and Quality Control program for all of its mines and exploration projects which conforms to industry Best Practices as outlined by the CIM and National Instrument 43-101. This includes the use of independent third party laboratories and the use of professionally prepared standards and blanks and analysis of sample duplicates with a second independent laboratory. For additional information on these programs for Chapada, Gualcamayo, Mercedes, Minera Florida, Canadian Malartic and El Peñón please refer to the following technical reports:
each of which can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Qualified Persons
William Wulftange, P. Geo., Senior Vice President of Exploration, Yamana Gold Inc. is a Registered Member of the Society of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers and a Licensed Professional Geologist. Mr. Wulftange has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained within this press release and is a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.
Mr. Wulftange verified the data disclosed in this press release, including the exploration, analystical and testing data underlying the information. Verification included a review and validation of the applicable assay databases and reviews of assay certificates.
