News on property acquisition
NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CANADIAN CORPORATE NEWS
FOR: YAMANA RESOURCES INC.
TSE SYMBOL: YRI
JANUARY 21, 1998
Yamana Secures Major Wenatchee Gold Belt Position In
Washington State
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON--Yamana Resources Inc. announces that it has
secured leases on about 825 acres of private mineral rights for
its Wenatchee precious-metals project, near the city of Wenatchee,
in central Washington state (see Map A). This includes more than 2
miles of the Wenatchee Gold Belt, an established, mineralized,
fault-controlled zone from which the Cannon and Lovitt mines
historically produced 1.7 million ounces of gold. Previous
exploration drilling on Yamana's mining leases has intercepted up
to 30 feet of 1.36 ounces of gold per ton (opt Au), with numerous
other ore-grade intercepts in several areas (see chart).
The three-parcel fee land package covers the Compton, Wenatchee
Heights and Matthews properties (see Map B). It also includes an
extensive (more than US$10 million) exploration database with
results from 125 diamond-drill core holes for more than 200,000
feet completed by previous explorers. One of these, Quest
Resources, announced in a press release in February 1996 that it
had outlined a mineralized zone on the Matthews property, about
1,800 feet below the surface, at least 600 feet wide and 2,500
feet long. The company also reported a 200-foot intersection, from
1,860 feet to 2,060 feet, that carried eight separate gold
intervals, including 50 feet of 0.26 opt Au and 5 feet of 1.15 opt
Au. "Several other drill intercepts at Matthews have outlined the
potential for a sizeable gold ore body," the release stated.
About half of all the drilling was done on Matthews which shows
underground mining potential for more than 1 million ounces of
high-grade gold reserves. The ultimate target for the Wentachee
project is several million ounces at grades averaging about 0.25
opt Au.
Said Richard Walters, Yamana's COO, "We are looking for a string
of deep-lying, million-plus ounce, epithermal gold-silver deposits
in a well-known and proven precious-metals- producing district."
Noting that gold produced from other mines in the same trend was
easily recoverable using standard flotation or cyanide techniques,
he added, "This is an exquisite target, even in a time of low gold
prices."
The mineralization occurs in sandstones as a hydrothermal system,
controlled by the Eagle Creek Fault, forming tube- or worm-like
bodies with a central core of silicification which pinches and
swells both horizontally and vertically along the trend of the
Wenatchee Gold Belt. It has been traced for 7 miles, including
about 2.1 miles under Yamana's properties. The focus is on a
relatively continuous zone of mineralization located between
depths of 1,000 and 2,000 feet. This could initially be
investigated from surface with deep trunk holes from which
multi-directional drilling could be conducted using navigational
dimensional drill heads, a technique which has been successfully
utilized here in the past. Follow-up exploration and development
would likely include lateral drilling from tunnels, either spiral
ramps or long declines.
"The key attraction," Walters said, "is that the project area has
a history of profitable underground gold production, and we have a
complex, but well-documented exploration record indicating clear
potential for much, much more."
Walters described annual holding and acquisition costs as very
low. Being private lands, they are without many of the vexing
problems of permitting and uncertain royalties associated with
public lands in the United States. He added that the Wenatchee
land parcels are subject to between 3 and 4 percent net smelter
royalties.
Yamana is looking for a joint-venture industry partner to invest
in the project, likely a major company with experience working in
Nevada's Carlin Trend, where much of the exploration and mine
development have recently begun to focus on deposits several
thousand feet deep.
Yamana Resources Inc. is a commodity-diversified Canadian
exploration company holding mineral interests in Argentina, Chile,
Paraguay, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Washington state.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than
statements of historical fact, included in this release,
including, without limitation, statements regarding potential
mineralization and reserves, exploration results, and future plans
and objectives of Yamana, are forward-looking statements that
involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no
assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and
actual results and future events could differ materially from
those anticipated in such statements. Certain important factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from Yamana's
expectations include the uncertain reliability of geochemical data
and the interpretation thereof and other factors disclosed under
the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in Yamana's documents
filed from time to time with The Toronto Stock Exchange, the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other
regulatory authorities. All subsequent written and oral
forward-looking statements attributable to Yamana or persons
acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by
this notice.
/T/
Wenatchee Gold Belt Project, Washington State, U.S.A.
Best Drill Hole Intercepts
MATTHEWS PROPERTY
Hole Interval (feet) Intercept Assay
Number from to (feet) (oz/ton Au)
---------------------------------------------------------------
MAT-4 2005 2030 25 0.275
MAT-7 1590 1600 10 1.300
MAT-8 1790 1840 50 0.177
MAT-13 1775 1815 40 0.338
MAT-20 1770 1800 30 1.357
MAT-20A 1800 1815 15 0.320
MAT-93-1 1865 1905 40 0.229
MAT-93-6 1675 1700 25 0.163
MAT-93-8 1720 1730 10 0.225
MAT-94-10 1860 1865 5 0.404
1945 1995 50 0.261
MAT-94-10A 1945 1970 25 0.486
WENATCHEE HEIGHTS PROPERTY
----------------------------------------------------------------
JLB-2 1175 1450 275 0.022
1590 1625 35 0.104
JLB-3 1305 1465 160 0.027
JRD-1 1265 1340 75 0.045
JRD-3 1230 1275 45 0.056
COMPTON PROPERTY
----------------------------------------------------------------
COM-1A 120 185 65 0.274
COM-1D 65 85 20 0.062
COM-26 1545 1550 5 0.252
1795 1825 30 0.151
COM-27 1500 1520 20 0.402
COM-28 160 180 20 0.550
COM-29 100 105 5 1.038
COM-30 125 130 5 0.332
COM-31 160 170 10 0.733
COM-33 70 100 30 0.108
105 110 5 0.382
COM-36 1540 1650 110 0.034
1895 1930 35 0.052 |
