Yamana Acquires Shares of Aura Minerals

YAMANA GOLD INC.

today announced that it has acquired ownership and control over 19,056,113 common shares of Aura Minerals Inc. through the issuance of common shares from treasury by Aura to Yamana. These shares were issued as partial consideration paid in connection with the debt restructuring and other amounts payable to Yamana and its subsidiaries under certain promissory notes in the aggregate amount of $64,247,114 plus deferred purchase price consideration, pursuant to the terms of a binding letter agreement entered into between Yamana and Aura dated as of March 4, 2011. Yamana acquired the Shares as an accredited investor pursuant to the exemption set forth in section 2.3 of National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus and Registration Exemptions. The deemed acquisition price per Share was C$3.83. Prior to the acquisition of the Shares, Yamana owned 23,344,261 common shares of Aura. Following the acquisition of the Shares, Yamana now holds a total of 42,400,374 common shares of Aura, representing approximately 18.7% of Aura's current issued and outstanding common shares.