Yamana green-lights Cerro Moro

Andrew Topf | February 15, 2015 | 10:43 pm Precious Metals Canada Latin America Gold Silver

Yamana Gold to invest $450 million in Argentina's Cerro Moro

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Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY, TSX:YRI) will start construction of its Cerro Moro gold-silver project in the southern Argentine province of Santa Cruz, the Toronto-based gold producer announced last week.

Yamana acquired Cerro Moro from Extorre, a junior gold company, in 2012.

The mining plan envisions annual production, on average, of 135,000 ounces of gold and 6.7 million ounces of silver in the first three years. For the mine’s life, the estimates are 102,000 ounces gold and 5 million ounces silver, with a throughput of 1,000 tonnes per day. Cash costs are pegged at $380 to $400 per ounce of gold and $5.35 to $5.50 per ounce of silver.

Total capex for the life of mine is estimated at $398 million, which includes $265 million in initial start-up costs. Production is expected to begin in the second half of 2017.

Read the full press release from Yamana Gold here