What happened
Shares of Yamana Gold (AUY) are soaring today, up by 10% as of 2 p.m EDT. While the price of gold has been rising, too, it's a modest increase and not enough to move the broader precious metals space very much. The main reason for the miner's stock-price jump is an update on its exploration and development plans.
So what
This morning, Yamana announced that it had achieved "significant exploration results" at its Jacobina and El Penon mines. Investors clearly liked what they heard and pushed the shares higher.
Image source: Getty Images.
At Jacobina, Yamana noted that what was once the "extended mine life" plan has now become the base case scenario for the asset. Thus, after successful exploration results, the company now expects Jacobina to have a 14.5-year mine life. That said, management made clear that it has had great success extending the life of this mine over time. It believes that further exploration could result in even more positive outcomes, so additional good news isn't out of the question at Jacobina.
At El Penon, Yamana -- and here I'm simplifying things a great deal -- found additional gold veins. Management believes these results are consistent with its plan for a 10-year mine life. However, the processing facilities at this site are underutilized, so the positive results here could actually lead to higher output from the mine. That would spread operating costs over more ounces and likely reduce all-in sustaining costs for the asset.
Now what
Yamana actually shared a great deal of detail in its release, so investors can really dig into the story here if they want to. But the big picture is that the gold miner's exploration spending is bearing fruit, and that is very good news indeed.
