TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Toronto-based Yamana Gold will reposition its Chapada copper/gold mine in Brazil as a gold/copper operation instead, after discovering a new gold mineralised area last year.

The company believes it can get at least one-million mineable ounces of gold from the new Suruca gold discovery, which is shallow and openpittable, Yamana CEO Peter Marrone said in a presentation at the Denver Gold Forum on Wednesday.

The company will complete a feasibility study on the Suruca project by the end of this year.

Chapada is already the largest contributor to cash flow for Yamana, representing about 40% of the total.

Yamana has completed a throughput expansion to 22-million tons a year ahead of schedule, Marrone said. The firm had previously planned to finish the project by early 2011.

The Chapada mine is expected to produce about 145-million pounds of copper and more than 140 000 oz of gold this year.

Yamana has mines in Brazil, Chile and Argentina and has development projects in all three countries, as well as Mexico.

The firm has also indicated it is starting to look more closely at the Jeronimo project in Chile, and plans to complete a feasibility study by late next year.

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