News Release:
NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CANADIAN CORPORATE NEWS
FOR: YAMANA RESOURCES INC.
TSE SYMBOL: YRI
MARCH 1, 1999
Yamana Upgrades Silver Resource at North Bacon; Drilling
Resumed
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON--Yamana Resources Inc. is pleased to announce
that Micon International Limited, Toronto, has completed its
independent silver resource determination for Yamana's wholly
owned Bacon property in Santa Cruz, Argentina. The study enhances
the previously announced estimated inferred resource (see Yamana
press release Jan. 25, 1999) for the North Bacon epithermal vein
system. It does so, firstly, by increasing the contained
equivalent silver by 2.16 million ounces (up 30 percent), bringing
the global total to 9.43 million ounces, and, secondly, by
reclassifying 7.08 million of those ounces up to a drill-indicated
resource. This precious-metals resource is categorized in the
following table:
/T/
NORTH BACON SILVER RESOURCE
(see end of text)
---------------------------------------------------------------
UNCUT GRADE CUT GRADE
Contained Contained
Ounces Ounces
Tonnes Grade Ag-Equiv Grade Ag-Equiv
---------------------------------------------------------------
Veta Martha Silver
Shoot
(east-raking plunge
version)
Indicated:
Ag-equiv g/t 185,399 1,187.2 917.8
Ag-equiv oz/t 38.2 7,076,654 29.5 5,471,097
---------------------------------------------------------------
Inferred:
Ag-equiv g/t 50,471 221.3 176.4
Ag-equiv oz/t 7.1 359,075 5.7 286,287
---------------------------------------------------------------
Subtotal 235,870 980.5 759.2
31.5 7,435,729 24.4 5,757,384
---------------------------------------------------------------
Strike Extensions
of Veta Martha
Inferred:
Ag-equiv g/t 237,154 261.8 1,995,849 261.8 1,995,849
8.4 8.4
---------------------------------------------------------------
Total 473,024 620.2 9,431,578 509.8 7,753,233
19.9 16.4
---------------------------------------------------------------
/T/
In arriving at the resource, Micon applied: 1) a modified
longitudinal polygonal method; 2) gold assays converted to
silver-equivalent assays where 1 gram per tonne of gold is
equivalent to 60 grams per tonne of silver; 3) the entire true
width of the vein; 4) a vein specific gravity of 2.61 as a tonnage
factor (as determined by Lakefield Research Chile S.A.); and 5) a
top cut of 12,100 g/t for Ag and 12.9 g/t for Au for the Cut
Grade.
In light of the very high-grade and nuggety nature of the
mineralization, Yamana requested Micon to also calculate a
top-cut-grade resource for the Veta Martha Silver Shoot. The 5.47
million drill-indicated silver-equivalent ounces of the cut-grade
resource is 77 percent of the uncut-grade resource. Cutting assays
entails cropping individual high-grade assay values to a lower,
statistically significant value to avoid skewing the ultimate
grade of the deposit. The top-cut values for the Veta Martha
Silver Shoot are established at the 97.5th percentile grade of the
assay database, thereby reducing the possibility of overestimating
the total ounces in the resource.
The weighted average true thickness of the epithermal
silver-bearing quartz vein of the Veta Martha Silver Shoot, as
calculated by Micon, is 3.8 meters - an above-average underground
mining width for silver veins.
Micon augmented its analyses by direct field examinations,
concluding "... that Yamana has made an exciting new discovery of
high-grade silver-gold mineralization in an under explored area
and recommends that North Bacon be explored further."
Yamana is well into a third drilling campaign, budgeted at 4,600
meters in 50 holes, which began at Bacon on February 15, 1999. The
objectives are to substantially increase the established inferred
and drill-indicated silver resource along the 1.5-kilometer-long
quartz lode system, and to provide initial tests of several
outlying mineralized veins, primarily the Far North Bacon
structures. Yamana is using two drills - a contracted diamond core
drill and Yamana's own reverse-circulation drill.
Meanwhile, Yamana is proceeding with metallurgical testing of the
Veta Martha Silver Shoot. A report received from Dr. Wolfgang
Baum, Chief Mineralogist, Pittsburgh Mineral and Environmental
Technology, Inc. on 20 drill core samples submitted for
micro-mineralogical analyses concludes: "Assuming a carefully
designed process flowsheet with adequate and careful liberation,
the bulk of the metals mineralization should be amenable to
physical concentration. Some high-grade ore samples should also be
amenable to pre-concentration using a well-tailored gravity
separation."
Dr. Baum's findings will be used as a guide for the next level of
metallurgical testing - bench-scale flotation tests for
precious-metals recovery. Sections of drill core samples
representative of the silver-bearing vein have been quartered for
shipment to an industry-recognized contractor who will conduct
these tests.
Richard Walters, President and COO of Yamana, notes, "So far, all
lights are 'green,' and we intend to move to a prefeasibility
stage as rapidly as possible. Favorable grades, metallurgy, rock
conditions, and deposit size are all indicated within a political
and geographical environment we believe is well-suited for mine
development."
Although classified as a precious-metals deposit, North Bacon is
first and foremost a high-grade silver deposit - running almost
1,200 silver-equivalent grams per tonne in the Veta Martha Silver
Shoot. Gold is only 10 percent of its drill-indicated resource.
Only slightly more than 22 percent of total mine production comes
from focused silver mining companies; about 78 percent comes as
byproducts of base metals and gold. Results achieved to date at
Bacon indicate that Yamana could join this exclusive, focused
group and add markedly to Argentina's silver production.
Yamana's Bacon property package consists of 321 square kilometers
of mineral rights and 357 square kilometers of overlying surface
rights. Yamana recently obtained a two-year option to purchase
Estancia 1 degree de Abril to assure complete security of its
mineral rights position and provide its field crews with both
unlimited access and a solid, local operations base.
Yamana Resources Inc. is a Canadian minerals exploration company
focused primarily in Argentina, with additional interests in
Chile, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and Washington
state.
- Micon calculated these resources in accordance with the
Recommendations for Public Mineral Exploration and Mining
Companies as set out by the Mining Standards Task Force of the
Toronto Stock Exchange and the Ontario Securities Commission in
their Final Report of January 1999. It is Micon's opinion "...
that a large portion of the resources at the main shoot on the
Veta Martha Structure can be classified as indicated under the
criteria of the CIMM (Canadian Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy)." The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's
standards normally do not permit reference to "inferred or
indicated resources" in S.E.C. filings. Yamana believes that these
tabulated resources would probably be categorized as "mineralized
material" in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission.
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, resources, and reserves, the commercial
viability of the silver deposit on the Bacon property, the
amenability of the deposit to standard recovery methods, Yamana's
planned exploration and drilling program, 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 drilling results
and other geophysical or geochemical data and the interpretation
thereof, uncertainties relating to the extent, continuity, grade
and nature of the mineral deposit, the possibility of
unanticipated costs and expenses or cost overruns or inadequacy of
cash resources, political and economic conditions in the world
economy or the conditions in the nations in which the company does
business, metal prices 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. Forward-looking statements are based on the estimates
and opinions of management on the date the statements are made,
and Yamana does not undertake any obligation to update
forward-looking statements should conditions or management's
estimates or opinions change.
-30-
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Yamana Resources Inc.
Amy Martin
Investor Relations Coordinator
(509) 838-6615
(509) 838-0714 (FAX)
E-mail: amartin@yamana.com
Home Page: yamana.com
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