Yamana Gold (AUY) announced its third quarter 2009 operational update, and that the company will hold its annual analyst and investor day on October 7, 2009 in order to present additional information on its core mining operations and projects. As part of the update the company announced estimated total production of approximately 314,200 gold-equivalent ounces for the third quarter 2009, which is a 9% and 16% increase from the second and first quarter of 2009, respectively. Yamana cited significant production improvements at its El Penon and Gualcamayo mines as the chief catalysts for the increase. Grade at El Penon also improved by 10% and 19% in the third quarter, relative to the second and first quarter of the year. At Gualcamayo third quarter production increased to approximately 39,200 ounces of gold, which is a 61% and 91% increase over the second and first quarter of the year.

The company also stated that co-product cast costs their six core mines for the third quarter are in line with previously announced annual guidance of $345-$375 per gold-equivalent ounce, while by product cash costs for 2009 are estimated to be below $200 per gold-equivalent ounce. Preliminary cost data indicates that cash costs at Gualcamayo for the third quarter will be below $350 per ounce, which is considerably below previous guidance of less than $450 per ounce. Yamana went on to say that complete details on cash costs will be provided with the company’s full third quarter 2009 earnings release.

There has been speculation in the marketplace that Yamana may soon be looking for a suitor. Their high presence of unusual items in its most recent earnings report further contributes to this rumor. Yamana Gold is a Canadian-based gold producer with gold production, gold development stage properties, exploration properties, and land positions in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico and Central America. Yamana has seven producing mines, two mines in commissioning and four advanced stage exploration projects. The company is targeting sustainable production at 2 million gold-equivalent ounces in 2012. In morning trading shares of AUY were up $0.66 to $11.07, while the gold price was up $15.90 to $1,033.20 per ounce after earlier reaching a new all-time high of $1,043 on the COMEX.