Yamana picks up property in Washington — Company to retain holdings in South America, Southeast Asia

Yamana Resources (YRI-T), known for its properties in such exotic locales as South America and Southeast Asia, has acquired a land package in its own backyard.

The acquisition, which consists of 825 acres of private mineral rights in three contiguous parcels, is in the company’s home state of Washington, near Wenatchee. The company has already spent US$10 million exploring the properties — known as Compton, Wenatchee Heights and Matthews — and has sunk 125 holes over 200,000 ft.

Drilling has concentrated chiefly on the Matthews property, where, according to the previous owner, a mineralized zone exists at a depth of 1,800 ft.

Drilling at the Matthews returned eight separate intersections over 200 ft.

(from 1,860 to 2,060 ft.), including 50 ft. grading 0.26 oz. gold per ton and 5 ft. of 1.15 oz.

Mineralization occurs in sandstones, forming tube or worm-like bodies in a central core of silicification, which pinches and swells both horizontally and vertically. Mineralization can be traced for seven miles, two of which are under Yamana’s control.

At the northern end of this gold belt is the Cannon mine, which produced, during the 1980s, 1.2 million oz. at an average grade of 0.29 oz.

The company was attracted to the project because of its “history of profitable underground gold production.”

The company intends to begin a program of deep trunk holes, from which several directional holes could be drilled. The technique has proved successful in the area. Follow-up exploration and development work will include underground drilling from declines into the deposits.

The company also holds interests in properties in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.