(Reuters) – Armed robbers stole around 2,000 ounces of gold worth $2.6 million at current prices from Yamana Gold Inc’s Jacobina mine in northeast Brazil last month, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.
The mine had disclosed the robbery last month but did not say at the time how much gold had been stolen. A group of heavily armed men stormed the gold mine in the early hours of Oct. 17 and fatally shot a security guard.
Local media reported that the robbers had blown the mine’s safe open with explosives. Toronto-based Yamana declined to comment on specifics, saying a police investigation was 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 said in an emailed statement. The company has insurance to fully cover the theft, the spokesman said.
In July another Canadian mining company, Agnico-Eagle Mines , said a group of armed men stormed one of its mines in northern Mexico, making off with an unspecified amount of gold and silver.
Last year armed robbers stole 7,000 ounces of gold from McEwen Mining’s El Gallo 1 mine in Mexico.
