TORONTO, Oct. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- YAMANA GOLD INC. (TSX:YRI; NYSE:AUY; LSE:AUY) (“Yamana” or “the Company”) provides an exploration update for the Canadian Malartic mine, announcing exceptional drill results that provide further support for the development of a future underground operation at the East Gouldie, Odyssey, and East Malartic zones with significant additional mineral resources and extended life of mine.

HIGHLIGHTS
•An ongoing C$24 million drill program has added 44 new pierce points this year within the mineral envelope at East Gouldie, providing data for a rapidly growing mineral resource model with spacing between pierce points of 150 metres or less.
•Mineralization is currently defined over 1,400 metres of strike length and a 1,200-metre vertical interval, and remains open at depth.
•Mineralization occurs in two closely spaced panels that locally converge into a single wide mineralized body.
•Assays indicate good grades, averaging over 3.00 grams per tonne (“g/t”) of gold, consistent homogeneous grade distribution, and wide estimated true width intervals, with multiple intercepts each averaging over 10.00 metres estimated true width.
•Drilling has defined significant intercepts that extend from 700 metres below surface to 1,900 metres below surface. Notable results include the following uncapped values over estimated true widths: MEX19-151WC with 6.90 g/t of gold over 39.30 metres, including 10.50 g/t of gold over 13.10 metres; MEX20-163AW 9.50 g/t of gold over 27.40 metres, including 16.00 g/t of gold over 9.90 metres; MEX19-159A 7.61 g/t of gold over 23.95 metres, including 12.00 g/t of gold over 12.16 metres; MEX19-160 6.90 g/t of gold over 21.30 metres, including 13.20 g/t of gold over 4.50 metres.
•Exploration on the broader amalgamated mine property in 2020 focused on the East Amphi and Rand projects. Drilling at East Amphi targeted the Nessie zone, a shear zone and porphyry-hosted mineralized zone, returning broad intervals of low-grade gold mineralization. The zone remains open at depth and to the east.
•A new mineralized zone at East Amphi was also discovered 80 metres south of the Nessie zone located at 450 metres depth north of the main porphyry. Drilling in this zone intercepted a downhole interval of 3.55 g/t of gold (uncapped) over a core length of 19.50 metres.

Significance

The strong results confirmed expected grades and widths of East Gouldie mineral inventories, while also confirming that the zone is open at depth, providing confidence to proceed with an exploration ramp that will allow tighter definition drilling on the Odyssey, East Malartic, and East Gouldie zones from underground drill platforms, and eventually be used to mine and haul mineralization from the upper zones. The results are expected to significantly increase inferred mineral resources at the higher-grade East Gouldie zone at year end, which will improve the economics of the Canadian Malartic underground project and represent another significant step towards defining the project as a multimillion ounce deposit that would support a future decades long life underground mine with a multi-hundred thousand ounce per year production platform.

EAST GOULDIE

Since the discovery of the East Gouldie zone in the fourth quarter of 2018, an aggressive exploration program has been pursued focused on mineral resource expansion and definition in support of a future underground operation with extended life of mine. In its year-end 2019 mineral reserve and mineral resource update, Yamana reported inferred mineral resources of 4,798,000 ounces of gold (50% basis) in the East Malartic, Odyssey, and East Gouldie zones, and measured and indicated mineral resources of 415,000 ounces of gold (50% basis) in the East Malartic and Odyssey zones. (See Table 1.)

Table 1 : Canadian Malartic year-end 2019 u nderground mineral r esources. (1)
Measured & Indicated
Mineral Resources Inferred
Mineral Resources
Tonnes (000's) Grade (g/t Au) Contained oz. Gold (000's) Tonnes (000's) Grade (g/t Au) Contained oz. Gold (000's)
Odyssey Underground (50%) 1,011 2.10 68 11,684 2.22 833
East Malartic Underground (50%) 4,962 2.18 347 39,382 2.05 2,596
East Gouldie Underground (50%) - - - 12,760 3.34 1,369
Total (50%) 5,973 2.17 415 63,826 2.45 4,798

(1) Please refer to the Canadian Malartic page on the Yamana website (http://www.yamana.com) for a full 2019 mineral resource update and related assumptions for mineral resource estimates.


In 2020, despite a six-week stoppage of exploration drilling that began in late March due to government restrictions on mining activities related to COVID-19, the mine’s exploration group has drilled 77,500 metres in 34 drill holes and 46 wedge holes that have provided 44 new pierce points within the East Gouldie mineralized body. This drilling activity also includes seven pierce points in Odyssey South and two pierce points in the Chert zone, which is part of the East Malartic zone. These pierce points provide data for a rapidly growing mineral resource model with spacing between pierce points at 150 metres or less.

The results of this drilling are clearly defining a large mineralized zone with two closely-spaced sheet-like mineralized bodies with exceptional grade continuity and width. Significant intercepts extend from 700 metres below surface to 1,900 metres below surface and along a strike length of roughly 1,400 metres, defining a continuous mineralized body. The mineralization remains open at depth and, given that the East Malartic and East Gouldie zones dip towards each other, these zones are expected to converge at depth. (See cross section presented in Figure 2).

The mineralized zones at East Gouldie are typically stacked in closely-spaced adjacent sheets with individual reported intervals ranging from an estimated true width of 1.6 metres to 39.3 metres, with a mean width of 10.7 metres and mean grades in excess of 3.00 g/t of gold. Notable highlights include the following uncapped values over estimated true widths: MEX19-151WC with 6.90 g/t of gold over 39.30 metres, including 10.50 g/t of gold over 13.10 metres; MEX20-163AW 9.50 g/t of gold over 27.40 metres, including 16.00 g/t of gold over 9.90 metres; MEX19-159A 7.61 g/t of gold over 23.95 metres, including 12.00 g/t of gold over 12.16 metres; MEX19-160 6.90 g/t of gold over 21.30 metres, including 13.20 g/t of gold over 4.50 metres. (See additional drill results in Table 2.)

Each pierce point typically comprises three to five of these mineralized intervals in two well-defined, closely-spaced mineralized panels: East Gouldie North and East Gouldie South. (See Figure 2 cross section showing cumulative width.) Grades are relatively homogeneous with minimal vertical and lateral variation and the 150-metre spacing is expected to be sufficient to define inferred mineral resources.

These exceptional results are part of an ongoing 2020 drill program, budgeted at C$24 million, that will include a further 35,000 metres in the fourth quarter, for a total of 112,500 metres in 2020, after which the data will be integrated into a new mineral resource model prior to year-end reporting. This new mineral resource will form the basis for a preliminary economic assessment and further mine planning. Infill drilling to 75-metre centres will initiate in the fourth quarter and be the focus of the 2021 drill program.

Figure 1 : Canadian Malartic Location Map.
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/15b4cdc8-52ac-4971-9941-ffcd6c1a0f2d

Figure 2 : Canadian Malartic long section looking north, highlighting 2020 drilling results for the East Gouldie zone. Drilling intercepts presented include those greater than 25.0 gram*metres ( Gold g/t (uncapped) multiplied by e stimated t rue w idth in m etres).
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b1979fa1-6eb3-4997-ada9-11747b23b5c9

Infrastructure Development Advancing

Construction of surface infrastructure, offices, and the ramp portal is well underway, with ramp development into Odyssey and East Malartic scheduled to start in November. The purpose of the exploration ramp is to allow tighter definition drilling on Odyssey, East Malartic, and East Gouldie from underground drill platforms, and it will eventually be used for mining and haulage of ore from the upper zones. This would allow underground production from Odyssey South from as early as 2023, providing higher-grade mill feed to complement the open pit production, thereby extending the life of the open pit.

In parallel, engineering of the production shaft and hoist is advancing, with an objective of starting preparation for the shaft and headframe in 2021, subject to formal approval after completing the requisite preliminary economic assessment. A vertical drill hole is currently in progress to provide geotechnical characterization at the proposed shaft location. The production shaft is designed as 6.4 metres in diameter and 1,800 metres deep and is planned to start hoisting ore from East Gouldie from 2027. Combined underground production from the haulage ramp and shaft is expected to ramp up to approximately 20,000 tonnes per day by 2029. The engineering team is assessing opportunities to improve the gold production profile during the ramp up period between 2023 and 2029. More detailed information will be presented in an updated NI 43-101 Technical Report in 2021.

Table 2 : 2020 Drilling h ighlights, East Gouldie z one, s elected f or e stimated t rue w idth i ntervals g reater t han 25.0 gram*metres ( g old g/t (uncapped) multiplied by e stimated t rue w idth in m etres). Capping is at 15.00 g/t of gold.

Hole Including Zone From
(m) To
(m) Interval
(m) Estimated True Width
(m) Au Uncapped
(g/t) Au Capped
(g/t)
MEX19-140WB EG North 1497.00 1507.50 10.50 10.10 3.20 -
MEX19-140WB EG South 1608.00 1623.00 15.00 14.30 3.70 -
MEX19-151WC

EG North 1686.00 1728.00 42.00 39.30 6.90 6.30
incl. EG North 1698.00 1712.00 14.00 13.10 10.50 9.90
MEX19-159

EG South 1822.00 1836.20 14.20 13.10 4.90 4.20
incl. EG South 1829.90 1836.20 6.30 5.80 9.60 8.10
MEX19-159A

EG South 1795.00 1820.60 25.60 23.95 7.61 6.70
incl. EG South 1798.00 1811.00 13.00 12.16 12.00 10.30
MEX19-160



EG North 1567.10 1589.80 22.70 21.30 6.90 6.30
incl. EG North 1574.00 1578.20 4.30 4.03 10.02 8.10
incl. EG North 1585.00 1589.80 4.80 4.50 13.20 12.05
MEX20-162W EG North 1511.00 1532.90 21.90 16.90 2.90 -
MEX20-162WA South of EG South 1661.00 1670.85 9.90 8.40 3.82 -
MEX20-163AW EG North 1207.40 1237.00 29.60 27.40 9.50 8.20
MEX20-163AW incl. EG North 1211.00 1221.80 10.80 9.90 16.00 13.20
MEX20-163AWA

EG North 1197.00 1217.50 20.50 20.00 8.80 7.50
incl. EG North 1197.00 1207.80 10.80 10.60 12.00 9.50
MEX20-163EXT EG North 1145.00 1163.00 18.00 17.16 1.48 -
MEX20-164 EG North 1859.60 1878.30 18.70 15.90 1.60 -
MEX20-164

EG North 1886.20 1900.00 13.80 11.73 6.23 5.53
incl. EG North 1894.70 1900.00 5.30 4.50 13.20 11.40
MEX20-164 EG South 1919.00 1943.20 24.20 20.65 1.27 -
MEX20-164W EG North 1888.15 1904.40 16.25 11.88 2.58 -
MEX20-166 EG South 1694.00 1718.00 24.00 22.07 5.72 5.26
MEX20-167

Merged EG North & South 1626.95 1660.50 33.55 32.53 4.72 4.68
incl. Merged EG North & South 1652.15 1659.70 7.55 7.32 6.60 6.44
MEX20-167A EG North 1639.70 1666.00 26.30 24.60 3.67 -
MEX20-167AA EG North 1638.50 1652.80 14.30 13.70 2.60 -
MEX20-167B EG North 1654.25 1674.10 19.85 18.55 2.30 -
MEX20-169AW EG South 1951.00 1968.00 17.00 13.83 1.96 -
MEX20-169AWB EG South 1927.75 1945.65 17.90 14.24 2.31 -
MEX20-170A EG South 1845.90 1859.60 13.70 12.06 2.76 -
MEX20-170AW EG North 1769.70 1780.00 10.30 9.40 5.40 -
MEX20-170AW EG South 1802.10 1826.30 24.20 22.10 2.20 -
MEX20-171 EG North 1788.90 1815.00 26.10 23.49 1.84 -
MEX20-171

EG South 1821.00 1860.40 39.40 35.63 1.98 -
incl. EG South 1845.00 1859.00 14.00 12.66 2.82 -
MEX20-171WA EG South 1881.00 1892.80 11.80 10.00 2.50 -
MEX20-172A EG South 1959.00 1975.80 16.80 14.73 3.30 -
MEX20-172AW North of EG North 1829.00 1856.75 27.75 25.90 5.50 -
MEX20-172AW EG South 1898.00 1917.00 19.00 17.60 2.57 -
MEX20-172AWA

EG South 1919.00 1935.45 16.45 14.21 9.02 7.50
incl. EG South 1928.30 1935.10 6.80 5.90 17.00 15.30
MEX20-175W EG North 1552.00 1557.40 5.40 4.94 7.68 6.23
MEX20-175W EG South 1628.00 1639.00 11.00 9.90 4.68 4.25
MEX20-175WA EG North 1595.60 1612.00 16.40 14.80 1.70 -
MEX20-175WA

EG South 1627.85 1659.30 31.45 28.30 2.80 -
incl. EG South 1649.55 1653.00 3.45 3.10 9.60 -
MEX20-176

EG North 1337.00 1357.40 20.40 19.95 3.30 -
incl. EG North 1344.60 1349.05 4.45 4.35 7.91 -
MEX20-176W EG North 1342.50 1368.00 25.50 24.05 1.57 -
MEX20-176W EG South 1380.15 1393.00 12.85 12.10 3.10 2.72
MEX20-176WA EG North 1333.50 1360.45 26.95 26.10 2.20 -
MEX20-178 Merged EG North & South 1231.60 1272.60 41.00 36.50 6.30 6.01
MEX20-178WA

EG North 1242.70 1278.70 36.00 28.53 3.82 3.60
incl. EG North 1252.80 1258.20 5.40 4.28 12.77 11.30
MEX20-178WA EG South 1308.00 1332.30 24.30 19.16 2.59 -

District Exploration

Exploration on the broader amalgamated mine property in 2020 focused on the East Amphi and Rand projects. Based on favourable historical holes at depth in the East Amphi deposit, a past producing mine located west of Canadian Malartic, drilling was initiated in the first quarter and resumed in the third quarter on the Nessie zone, a shear zone and porphyry-hosted mineralized zone in the historic mine. The known vertical extent of the zone was extended by 150 metres to depth and returned broad intervals of low-grade gold mineralization with local high-grade narrow intervals. The zone remains open at depth and to the east. A new mineralized zone at East Amphi was also discovered 80 metres south of the Nessie zone located at 450 metres depth north of the main porphyry. Drilling in this zone intercepted a downhole interval of 3.55 g/t of gold (uncut) over a core length of 19.50 metres.

Drilling on the Rand property returned anomalous values at two new occurrences in the northern half of the property. Exploration in the fourth quarter and in 2021 will add drilling to the new Mount Rand targets and test porphyry-related targets at Rand and East Amphi in an effort to add further mineral resources for a future underground operation.

Qualified Persons
Scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Henry Marsden (P. Geo. and Senior Vice President, Exploration). Mr. Marsden is an employee of Yamana Gold Inc. and a “Qualified Person” as defined by Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

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