Yamana Increases Inferred Gold Resource at Papua New Guinea.

SPOKANE, WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 1998-- Yamana Resources Inc (TSE:YRI.)

Yamana Resources Inc. announces that, during the five months after assuming operatorship of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) joint venture (see map A) in September 1997, its drilling program increased the size of the gold resource at Gameta by an estimated 133,000 ounces, bringing the inferred resource there to 4.0 million tonnes grading 2.3 g/t Au for 304,400 ounces of gold. Previous drilling by Yamana's partner, Union Mining NL, outlined a significant near-surface resource at Bilu Bilu, in the northern part of Gameta. Combined with Wapolu, which was expanded by 27,000 ounces, the inferred global resource on Fergusson Island is now 11.6 million tonnes grading 1.83 g/t Au containing 682,500 ounces of gold. Yamana has earned a 30 percent interest in the project, and will attain 40 percent, the next earn-in level, shortly.

Gameta is located on the northeast corner of Fergusson Island, one of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands off the coast of the PNG mainland (see map B). It includes a gold resource as well as a number of gold anomalies in stream-sediment, rock-chip and float samples scattered over at least 25 square kilometers.

Yamana's drill program, 54 reverse-circulation holes for 4,211 meters, ran from November until January. The latest drilling was guided by a reinterpretation of the exploration model for Gameta, indicating that the primary precious-metal mineralization is focused near the coast, rather than up the mountain slope (see map C). The last three holes are located downslope from the established gold resource area (see map D), bottoming in significant mineralization (see assay table). Hole 191 intercepted 44.1 meters true thickness (tt) of 3.91 g/t Au - the check assays returned 4.13 g/t Au - and 8.5 g/t Ag, from a vertical depth of 42 meters to the end of the hole, including 27.9 meters (tt) of 5.05 g/t Au and 10.8 g/t Ag (see map E). Hole 190 intercepted 6.3 meters (tt) of 2.72 g/t with 3.4 g/t Ag, bottoming in 1.8 meters (tt) of 0.8 g/t Au and 1.5 g/t Ag. Hole 192 ended in 17 meters (tt) of 1.46 g/t Au and 4.6 g/t Ag.

Dick Walters, Yamana's Exec. V.P. and COO, observed, "We've applied this new model with good success and it has greatly increased our confidence that we have world-class targets here."

Due to drilling complications caused by crumbling ground and ground water inflow, the tar-get was only partially tested or unreached in the majority of the holes. Nine holes terminated in mineralized intercepts of greater than 2.0 g/t Au. These include hole 145, which bottomed in 17.6 meters (tt) of 1.69 g/t Au and 2.8 g/t Ag, including 2.3 meters of 4.53 g/t Au and 5.5 g/t Ag; and hole 186 which intercepted and bottomed in 10.5 meters (tt) of 2.15 g/t Au and 1.8 g/t Ag. Diamond core drilling is necessary to properly test these areas.

Project geologist Brian Wakeman said, "We have now identified a target area about 2 kilometers by at least 200 meters, where further drilling is distinctly justified." He added, "There is good potential at Gameta to locate a multimillion-ounce gold deposit in an epithermal gold system localized along a stacked or imbricated detachment fault zone, what we call the DFZ."

At Wapolu, 35 kilometers west of Gameta, drilling increased the inferred resource to an estimated 7.61 million tonnes at 1.55 grams of gold per tonne. The DFZ at Wapolu occurs as a single, nonimbricated horizon, with disseminated gold also associated with epithermal veins and localized by cross-cutting faults. Drilling, in combination with new geologic insights, has defined a series of additional drill targets, adding considerably to Wapolu's upside potential. For example, holes 153 and 158, located downdip from the old Dagwalala production pit, intercepted 13 meters (tt) of 1.77 g/t Au and 24 meters (tt) of 1.72 g/t Au, respectively, indicating the DFZ thickens towards the sea. Nearby, digging of clay by local villagers - who use clay for making cooking pots - has encountered steam and hot springs. As hypothesized at Gameta, this clay may be capping an underlying epithermal gold system, a conceptualization which should be tested with core drilling.

Work was terminated on the Igwageta prospect (see map A) in mid-year when results pointed to the likelihood of only a limited gold resource.

Primary assays were provided by International Standards Organization (ISO)-accredited Analabs in Lae, PNG, which obtained gold values by fire assay, and silver values using aqua regia digestion followed by atomic absorption. Australian Laboratory Services, a lab accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities in Australia, has checked and confirmed the grades of the drill assay results in hole 191.

The DFZ at Wapolu lies on the flank of the Mailolo dome and, at Gameta, it lies on the eastern margin of the Oiatabu dome, two of the many emergent metamorphic core complexes along the corridor of colliding Pacific and Australian Tectonic Plates. This northwest corridor is highly prospective for gold and hosts several producing mines including Misima (plus 3 million ounces), Hidden Valley (plus 3 million ounces) and Hamata (plus 1 million ounces.)

Yamana's exploration model for the region now includes imbricated DFZ horizons as a number of such intercepts were encountered in some drill holes at Gameta (see map E). These stacked horizons formed from the imbricate splaying off, along listric shears, of blocks of earth which slid down to become lodged upon the in-situ DFZ. This compounding of the DFZ by gravity-slide faulting is due to the continual domal uplifting of the young, emerging island group. New geologic cross-sections show that numerous drill holes were too shallow to reach the main ore zone at Gameta. The DFZ is noted in drill chips by the onslaught of differing degrees of clay, sericite and silica alteration with associated sulfides.

Gold mineralization at Wapolu and Gameta is associated with pyrite, sometimes arsenopyrite, and, rarely, stibnite, within the silica alteration and epithermal-textured quartz veins. The latter are colloform-banded, vuggy and locally brecciated, and frequently contain the higher gold values. Gold mineralization is also localized in metamorphic quartz veins and at the margins of felsic and mafic dikes and sills.

The joint venture holds 3,260 square kilometers of land in this "gold-producing" corridor. A 1997 airborne geophysical survey covering 2,500 square kilometers, involving magnetic, radiometric and photographic surveys, was conducted over Fergusson Island as well as the two other joint-venture tenement islands, Normanby and Goodenough. That work, combined with geologic and geochemical field work, identified 32 new targets for follow up.

Yamana's agreement with Union Mining, an Australian-based junior mining and exploration company, in which Yamana holds a 10.1 percent equity interest, allows the Company to earn a 51 percent interest in all of Union's exploration licenses in PNG. Once it has earned its 51 percent interest, Yamana may increase this to 75 percent if Union elects not to maintain its 49 percent interest. Having fulfilled its obligations under the agreement, Yamana has put the project in abeyance while concentrating its exploration efforts on its Santa Cruz precious-metals project in Argentina.

Yamana Resources Inc. is a Canadian exploration company holding interests in projects in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Washington state.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and reserves, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of Yamana, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Certain important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Yamana's expectations include the uncertain reliability of geochemical data and the interpretation thereof and other factors disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in Yamana's documents filed from time to time with The Toronto Stock Exchange, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to Yamana or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. -0-

GAMETA PROJECT
SIGNIFICANT DRILL RESULTS

Drill       Interval  True Thickness (2) Gold              Silver

Hole No.    (meters)  (meters)           (g/t)             (g/t)
141          38-75(1)     33.3            1.32               2.0
143          46-55         8.1            1.20               1.0
144          53-70(1)     15.3            1.59               2.7
145          46-65.5(1)   17.6            1.87               1.8
146          78-83(1)      4.5            2.02               3.4
147          91-103(1)    10.6            1.06     less than 1.0
148          68-75         6.0            1.34     less than 1.0
152          32-42         8.5            1.66               3.0
             62-81        16.2            1.48               6.2
153          85-94(1)      8.1            1.09               3.8
161          64-79(1)     13.1            2.14               6.8
169          52-57         5.0            1.11               2.4
             87-94(1)      8.0             .92               6.5
178          65-71(1)      5.4            1.00               2.5
180          42-49(1)      6.3            4.37               4.7
186           4-31(1)     10.5            2.11               1.8
187          44-61        11.9            1.19               2.1
             72-80         5.8            1.83              12.6
190          57-89        26.0            1.00               1.7
   include.  57-64         6.3            2.72               3.4
191          42-91(1)     44.1            3.91               8.5
             42-91(1)     44.1         ck 4.13            ck 5.7
192          60-80(1)     17.0            1.46               4.6

    (1)   open at depth - bottomed in mineralization
    (2)   adjusted for dip of mineralized body
     ck   independent lab check of samples over same interval

There is a map available by contacting the company at the number above or by accessing CCN's Internet Website at http://www.cdn-news.com.

CONTACT: Yamana Resources Inc.

Greg W. Taylor, 509/ 838-6615

509/ 838-0714 (FAX)

E-mail: [e-mail]

Website: http://www.yamana.com