VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Canadian miner Yamana Gold on Thursday said it foresees a break in significant expansionary capital spending after completion of the Cerro Moro mine, in Argentina, and the Barnat extension at the Canadian Malartic mine, in Quebec, in 2018.

The Toronto-headquartered company said it is targeting significant cash flows starting in 2018, given the expected reduction in capital spending and the increase in production over the guidance period to 2019.

Given the technical nature of the projects in Yamana's pipeline, the company is not expecting to start development of any further major projects in the next five years.

Yamana expects to achieve output of 920 000 oz of gold, 4.7-million ounces of silver and 120-million pounds of copper for this year.

Gold output is expected to increase to 1.03-million ounces in 2018 and to 1.1-million ounces in 2019.

For 2016, Yamana produced 1.27-million ounces of gold, including nine months of production from Mercedes, seven-million ounces of silver and 115.5-million pounds of copper.

The company on Thursday reported headline earnings of $6.7-million, or $0.01 a share, for the three months ended December 31, compared with an adjusted loss of $6.4-million, or $0.01 a share, for the same period of 2015. Lower impairment charges on mining properties and higher realised metal prices were partially offset by lower sales.

The company reported a fourth-quarter net loss from continuing operations attributable to equity holders of $355.44-million, or $0.38 a share, compared with a net loss from continuing operations attributable to Yamana equity holders of $1.45-billion, or $1.53 a share, for the three months ended December 2015.

Revenue for the period was $484.4-million, compared with the $439.1-million a year earlier, because of higher metal prices, partly offset by lower copper sales. Revenue was derived from the sale of 324 197 oz of gold, 1.6-million ounces of silver and 34.2-million pounds of copper.