Yamana Gold provides exploration updates

Yamana Gold Inc., a Canadian-based gold producer with significant gold production including other precious metals and copper, gold development stage properties, exploration properties, and land positions in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Central America and the United States, provides an exploration update for Gualcamayo, El Penon, Pilar de Goias and Mercedes.

The company said that drilling at Gualcamayo in Argentina continued during the quarter with two underground and two surface diamond drills.

The significant results show potential for expanded size of QDD Lower West deposit

These results continue to support the view that QDD Lower West may be a larger deposit than is reflected in the current resource estimate.

In May 2008, Yamana reported the discovery of the Bonanza North extension with discovery hole SNF0005 which returned 2.75 metres of 78.33 g/t Au and 217.67 g/t Ag.

Since that time, an additional 14 drill holes have been completed at Bonanza North, and the grade shell continues to expand, supporting the view that the deposit could be at least two times the current resource estimate.

Mineralization has now been traced along a strike length for 540 metres from section 7,860N to 8,400N. Hole EB0009 on section 8,400N intersected 0.48 metres at 17.3 g/t Au and 54.1 g/t Ag, potentially extending the mineralization an additional 300 metres to the north for a combined strike length of almost 600 metres.

Hole EB0013 was drilled 60 metres north of the northern end of the Bonanza deposit and returned 2.08 metres of 33.07 g/t Au and 163.73 g/t Ag, indicating that Bonanza is open to the north.

Providing Brazil updates, the company said that the current focus of exploration is concentrated on the completion of an infill drill program on the JOT trend (Jordino, Ogo and Tres Buracas deposits) to facilitate the completion of a scoping study by the end of 2008. Three drill rigs are currently on site.

The continuity of the mineralization towards the south is also being investigated with one drill rig. Infill drilling is being conducted on a 100 x 100 metre grid.

Regarding Mexico, the company said that drilling continued at Mercedes in the second quarter, with 5 core rigs currently on-site. Exploration focused on 1) Infill drilling and step-out drilling on the Mercedes Vein, 2) Infill drilling on the Klondike Vein and 3) Generative drilling of targets in the Mercedes Northwest Extension, Klondike Basin and Tucabe Vein systems.