The Canadian Malartic mine, in which Yamana holds a 50% interest, is located in the Abitibi region of Quebec near the town of Val-d’Or. It is Canada’s largest gold mine and Yamana’s biggest producer. The Company acquired the operation in 2014 with Agnico Eagle Mines when they jointly purchased Osisko Mining. The operation is overseen by the Canadian Malartic General Partnership, a joint management committee consisting of senior leaders from Yamana and Agnico Eagle.
Canadian Malartic is currently an open-pit mine, but the operation has discovered large underground ore bodies on the property that are under review as a new source of ore for the mill. These ore bodies include the Odyssey, East Malartic, and East Gouldie zones, which the Partnership continues to advance and evaluate along with a number of other prospective exploration areas, including the Sladen, Sheehan, and Rand zones. These discoveries have the potential to provide new, mostly underground sources of mineralization for the Canadian Malartic mill that could significantly extend mine life.
The Partnership also continues to ramp up the Barnat expansion project to access the Barnat deposit, with meaningful contributions expected in 2021.
*Canadian Malartic temporarily suspended operations in late March 2020 due to government-ordered restrictions on mining related to COVID-19. Operations resumed in mid-April 2020 after the government declared mining an essential activity and, while the ramp-up of operating activities went faster than expected, 2020 production guidance was revised from the original estimate of 330,000 ounces of gold to 275,000 ounces as a result of the suspension.