Yamana (NYSE:AUY) Profits Surge on Gold Bullion Price

Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) announced its profit jumped sharply, as record gold prices in the fourth-quarter helped results to soar. Net income in the quarter increased to $160.4 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with $36.2 million, or 5 cents a share, last year in the same quarter.

Excluding one-time items, earnings were $173.3 million, or
23 cents a share. Quarterly revenue was up by more than 34 percent to $535 million.

The miner, which has assets spread across Latin America, said production in the quarter was 286,682 gold equivalent ounces, falling from 289,456 ounces, a year earlier. The mid-tier gold miner is in the process of developing the Mercedes gold-silver project in Mexico, which is scheduled to start production in 2012. It is also working on the Pilar gold project in Brazil that should come online in 2013.

Production guidance in 2011 is in the range of 1.04 to 1.14 million GEO, as the company mentioned before. Copper production in 2011 is projected to be in the range of 145-160 million pounds. Estimated cash costs for 2011 should come in below $250 per GEO on a by-product basis.

Yamana closed in New York Wednesday at $12.44, gaining $0.20, or 1.63 percent.