Yamana Gold (TSX:YRI) shares jumped over 5% after the company reported record gold production and cash flow for the fourth quarter of 2021 and raised its output forecast for 2023.
Production from Yamana’s mines totalled 281,388 gold equivalent ounces (GEO) in the final three months of 2021, significantly exceeding the company’s guidance of 270,000 GEO. Annual production of a record 1.01mln GEO was also above guidance of 1mln GEO.
Fourth-quarter gold production reached an all-time high of 240,718 ounces (oz), the company said in a statement.
Meanwhile, silver production of 3.14mln oz was underpinned by the El Peñón and Cerro Moro mines, which recorded their highest quarterly silver production totals of the year.
Yamana Gold (TSX:YRI, LSE:AUY) posted adjusted net earnings for the fourth quarter of US$101.4mln, or US$0.11 per share, compared with US$103mln in the same period last year.
Mine operating earnings grew by 23% quarter-on-quarter to US$189.4mln.
Cash flows from operating activities reached an all-time quarterly record of US$238.2mln, a rise of 25% quarter-on-quarter. Free cash flow before dividends and debt repayments amounted to US$119.6mln, an increase of 47% on the third quarter.
The company said it had cash of US$525mln at the end of 2021 and US$750mln in available credit.
It declared a dividend of US$0.03 for the first quarter of 2022.
Yamana Gold maintained its 2022 production guidance for not less than 1mln GEO and increased its forecast for 2023 to 1.03mln GEO from 1mln GEO previously.
It said it expects production growth to continue in 2024 to 1.06mln GEO.
Yamana also predicted that the increase in production will have a positive impact on costs over the three-year guidance period.
The company intends to provide a new 10-year outlook in 2023, but said it expects to increase its sustainable baseline annual production at current operations from 1mln GEO to at least 1.05mln GEO from 2025.
It also noted that the growth potential of 1.2mln GEO outlined in its previous 10-year outlook “remains a conservative target” as it has identified opportunities that could raise this target to 1.5mln GEO within the 10-year outlook horizon.
Yamana Gold said it “remains well-positioned to fund all exploration, expansions, projects and opportunities identified in its guidance and decade-long outlook using available cash and cash flow from operations”.
Shares climbed by 5.3% to 347.50p in early trade.