$2.6 million of gold stolen from Canadian miner

Valentina Ruiz Leotaud | November 2, 2016 | 5:38 pm
Precious Metals • Canada • Latin America • Gold • Silver

Yamana Gold’s Jacobina mine in northern Brazil. (Photo: Yamana)

After reporting a total gold production of 328,604 ounces and a revenue of $464.3 million for the third quarter of 2016, Yamana Gold (TSX:YRI)(NYSE:AUY) announced a major loss.

The Toronto-based miner revealed today that 2,000 ounces of gold were stolen from its Jacobina mine in Brazil.

The loot, worth $2.6 million at current prices, was forcefully taken by armed robbers who, according to Reuters, stormed the mine on October 17, 2016 and killed a security guard.

Yamana had spoken about the robbery before, but it was only today that the company admitted how much was actually stolen.

However, its executives are not ready to dish on every detail just yet. Reuters reports that local media say the criminals blew the mine’s safe open with explosives, but Yamana refused to comment on this specific topic because a police investigation is ongoing.

“The amount of gold that was stolen is modest as material is kept in inventory only briefly after a gold pour pending transport,” Yamana told the news agency in an emailed statement.