Discovery of New Mineralized Zones at Wasamac Download a PDF of detailed drill hole results for Wasamac
TORONTO, Dec. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- YAMANA GOLD INC. (TSX:YRI; NYSE:AUY; LSE:AUY) (“Yamana” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce the following updates.
- At Wasamac, exploration has defined an entirely new shear zone which demonstrates the excellent exploration potential and opportunity to further grow the mineral inventory and support a production platform of 200,000 ounces per year over a mine life of at least 15 years, significantly improving the approved development plan of an average of 169,000 ounces per year over a mine life of 10 years, thereby meaningfully increasing overall value.
- At Odyssey, continuing exploration successes support the longer term potential for higher annual production than the currently contemplated average annual production of 545,000 ounces (100% basis) from 2029 onward and for extending mine life beyond 2039.
- At Jacobina, the Phase 2 expansion is progressing ahead of schedule with permitting now expected by early 2022 which would advance the Company’s second phase expansion to a production level of 230,000 ounces per year for multi-decades at low cost and high cash flow.
- At Minera Florida, the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (“ESIA”) has been submitted and with expected permitting timelines, the mine could begin operating at a planned 100,000 tonnes per month by 2025 and producing 120,000 ounces per year.
Wasamac: New Mineralized Zones Discovered, Initiating Permitting for the Bulk Sample, Engineering Advancing
Wasamac is a development-stage underground gold project located 15 kilometres west of Rouyn-Noranda in the prolific Abitibi-Tmiscamingue region of the mining-friendly province of Quebec. The project is well located, adjacent to the Trans-Canada highway and 100 kilometres west of the Company’s 50%-owned Canadian Malartic mine.
Exploration
Exploration drilling at Wasamac continues to deliver promising results. An exploration hole WS-21-524, drilled south of the Wildcat zone testing targets from the 2021 magnetic susceptibility survey, intersected two new mineralized zones, referred to as South Wildcat. The first is a zone of shearing and quartz carbonate stockwork in altered mafic volcanic rocks intercepted at a downhole depth of 402.93 metres, which returned 7.31 grams per tonne (“g/t”) of gold over an estimated true width of 3.37 metres (please see Figure 1 below). The drill hole ended in a wide zone of shearing and strong alteration with anomalous gold grades including 2.3 g/t of gold over a core length of 0.6 metres and 1.3 g/t of gold over a core length of 0.3 metres. This drill hole demonstrates the excellent potential of the area south of the Wasamac shear and north of the Cadillac Tectonic zone and follow-up drilling is planned for early 2022.
Figure 1: Wasamac Project, Map of Wildcat Target with Recent Drill Highlights at South Wildcat.
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The Company believes that the discovery of the two new parallel mineralized structures in between the Wasamac shear and the Cadillac Tectonic zone is further evidence of the excellent geological upside on the large Wasamac property, and it plans to continue the drilling programs to grow the mineral inventories with an accelerated program. These results are aligned with the Company’s strategic objective to achieve a production platform of 200,000 ounces per year over a mine life of at least 15 years. Furthermore, the Wasamac project further solidifies the Company’s long-term growth profile with a top-tier gold project in Quebec’s Abitibi-Tmiscamingue Region, where Yamana has deep operational and technical expertise.
Yamana’s average annual gold production in Quebec, including production from Wasamac and the Odyssey underground at Canadian Malartic, has the potential to increase to approximately 500,000 ounces by 2028, and continue at this level through at least 2041.
“The discovery of a new shear zone and further exploration successes support our higher annual production plan of 200,000 ounces over a longer mine life now expected to be fifteen years” said Yohann Bouchard, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/12/01/2344605/0/en/Yamana-Gold-Announces-the-Discovery-of-New-Mineralized-Zones-at-Wasamac-and-Provides-an-Update-on-Its-Growth-Projects.html