Gets many a mention on FSN.

LON:YAU 762.00

http://finance.google.com/finance?q=LON:YAU

The Directors seem to have cashed in recently. If gold is going higher, why are they cashing in now? Do you take any notice of directors selling? I would rather see them buy.

Digital Look

Traded Action Notifier Price Amount Value
24-Jan-08 Sell Carl Renzoni 802.24p 12,000 £96,268.66
24-Jan-08 Sell Victor H Bradley 801.74p 250,000 £2,004,336.43
24-Jan-08 Exercise of option Victor H Bradley 486.59p 250,000 £1,216,468.32
24-Jan-08 Sell Dino Titaro 801.74p 125,000 £1,002,168.21
24-Jan-08 Exercise of option Dino Titaro 486.59p 125,000 £608,234.16
24-Jan-08 Sell Nigel Lees 801.74p 165,000 £1,322,862.04
24-Jan-08 Exercise of option Nigel Lees 486.59p 165,000 £802,869.09
24-Jan-08 Sell Patrick J Mars 801.74p 125,000 £1,002,168.21
24-Jan-08 Exercise of option Patrick J Mars 486.59p 125,000 £608,234.16
24-Jan-08 Sell Charles Main 801.74p 133,000 £1,066,306.98
24-Jan-08 Exercise of option Charles Main 486.59p 133,000 £647,161.14
24-Jan-08 Sell Antenor F Silva Jr 801.74p 275,000 £2,204,770.07
24-Jan-08 Exercise of option Antenor F Silva Jr 186.06p 275,000 £511,673.07
24-Jan-08 Sell Peter Marrone 801.74p 2,000,000 £16,034,691.43
24-Jan-08 Exercise of option Peter Marrone 486.59p 1,500,000 £7,298,809.90

And they did this before.

25.05.2006

Yamana Gold's management are not waiting to see whether the recent wobble in the gold price is a blip or the beginning of a more sustained decline.

The Canadian-based, Brazilian-focused gold miner has seen most of its key directors cash in hefty share options.

President and chief exective Peter Marrone is leading the way with the sale of 750,000 options for a gross total of $10.2m. The options were exercisable at $1.67 and sold at $13.55. Other big sellers include finance director Charles Main and another director, Stan Bharti.

Yamana, which has 6 operating mines and one under construction, is aiming for 1m ounces per year of gold production by 2008.

http://www.moneyweek.com/file/13054/yamana...rd-cash-in.html

Top Director Sells

Yamana Gold Inc (YAU)

Director name: Mr Charles Main

Amount sold: 227,000 @ 726.44p

Value: £1,649,018

Yamana Gold Inc (YAU)

Director name: Mr Peter Marrone

Amount sold: 750,000 @ 726.44p

Value: £5,448,300

Yamana Gold Inc (YAU)

Director name: Mr Stan Bharti

Amount sold: 500,000 @ 726.44p

Value: £3,632,200

Yamana Gold Inc (YAU)

Director name: Mr Antenor F Silva Jr.

Amount sold: 300,000 @ 726.44p

Value: £2,179,320

Yamana Gold Inc (YAU)

Director name: Mr Bruce Humphrey

Amount sold: 252,000 @ 726.44p

Value: £1,830,629

Yamana Gold Inc (YAU)

Director name: Mr Greg McKnight

Amount sold: 250,000 @ 726.44p

Value: £1,816,100

Yamana Gold Inc (YAU)

Director name: Mr Patrick J Mars

Amount sold: 200,000 @ 726.44p

Value: £1,452,880

Yamana Gold Inc (YAU)

Director name: Mr Juvenal Mesquita

Amount sold: 150,000 @ 726.44p

Value: £1,089,660

Yamana Gold Inc (YAU)

Director name: Mr Nigel Lees

Amount sold: 90,000 @ 726.44p

Value: £653,796

Yamana Gold Inc (YAU)

Director name: Mr Dino Titaro

Amount sold: 90,000 @ 726.44p

Value: £653,796

Hope they are buying gold with their winnings.

Hmmm despite its still good write ups on FSN the Directors have not taken advantage of market conditions to buy

Have still been selling - but not recently however

Traded Action Notifier Price Amount Value
11-Sep-08 Sell Peter Marrone 426.16p 85,000 £362,237.64
05-Sep-08 Sell Peter Marrone 514.88p 75,000 £386,161.54
11-Aug-08 Sell Peter Marrone 490.66p 70,000 £343,459.54
11-Aug-08 Sell Peter Marrone 509.25p 200,000 £1,018,491.36

11-Aug-08 Exercise of option Peter Marrone 150.67p 30,000 £45,201.06

Anyone any thoughts on this?

Is Mr Marrone strapped for cash?

Well his salary by big co CEO terms might not be massive (I would like it however!)

His bonus in 2007 aint half bad !

http://people.forbes.com/profile/peter-marrone/87817

48 Years Old
Mr. Marrone founded Yamana as President and Chief Executive Officer of Yamana in July 2003. Mr. Marrone was appointed Chairman of Yamana in May 2007. Mr. Marrone has more than 20 years of business and capital market experience and has been on the boards of a number of public companies and advised companies with a strong Brazilian presence. Mr. Marrone is a Faculty Scholar and holds a Bachelor of Laws degree. Mr. Marrone sits on the boards of Vaaldiam Resources Ltd. and Aura Minerals Inc.

Compensation for 2007
Salary $900,000.00
Bonus $6,800,000.00
Other Annual Compensation $56,367.00
Long term incentive plan payouts $0.00
Restricted stock awards $0.00
Security underlying options $0.00
All other compensation $0.00
Option awards $ $0.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation $0.00
Change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings $0.00
Total Compensation $7,756,367.00

more on options etc on the forbes site

That's some bonus, perhaps he thinks he works for a bank?

Yeah. Admittedly I havent figured out if the bonus is the options or in wad of cash format. Either way its nice.

I guess the point is, other attractions aside, Director selling on this level is a turn off. And it is substantial selling. If nothing else it suggests its still the wrong time to

I wonder if Frizzers would have a view on this?

In some companies where the directors own a large percentage of the shares, selling is a way to broaden the shareholder base. However, I would be suspicious of any company where the directors sell off shares after they have run up, even worse if they sell and there is some sudden bad news shortly afterwards.

Before I get into this just want to say that I have seen some articles which suggest that mining directors might be better at timing the market in terms of buys and sells than directors of other companies

Also there is an investment trust that makes its purchases on directors buys and sells and it has found the Chief Exec & Finance Directors are the ones to follow (if following) - other directors buys/sells do not outperform.... apparently

Anyway

Fairly heavily critisised on this weeks FSN is Peter Marrone - neither Jim P nor Dave Mortgan like this deal especially in view of conflicts of interest - Marrone owns % of Aura apparently + another director also owns part. Marrone has been continuing to sell down his stake

Its a pity JP didnt check on Marrone's sales when he last had him on the show.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-b...article1177396/

Yamana Gold Inc.'s (YRI-T )agreement this week to sell three mines to junior miner Aura Minerals Inc. (ORA-T) for $200-million (U.S.) in cash and stock had so much overlap and related party conflicts that neither company's chairman nor even Yamana's chief executive officer could be involved in the decision to do the deal.

Now, some analysts are raising questions about the price Yamana will be paid for the three South American mines and the fact that the asset sales will reduce Yamana's production and curtail the company's prospects for growth.

For Aura, however, the acquisition has the potential to vault the development company to a full-fledged mid-tier gold producer.

"It will be an extremely transformational transaction," Aura's chief executive officer Patrick Downey said in an interview yesterday.

The sale could also benefit Yamana's chairman and chief executive officer Peter Marrone. He owns more than 29 million Aura shares or almost 5 per cent of the company and is a member of Aura's board. Aura's shares surged 18 per cent yesterday on the news.

"The mining industry is a small industry, so from that perspective I'm sure that there is lots of commonality in many transactions. But I'm comfortable saying that we did the best that we could to deliver the best value for Yamana," Mr. Marrone said in an interview yesterday.

In addition to Mr. Marrone's position on both boards, Yamana's lead director Patrick Mars is also the chairman of Aura. Mr. Marrone said they were both recused from talks surrounding the sale of the three mines, the San Andres Mine in Honduras, and the Sao Francisco and Sao Vicente Mines in Brazil.

The negotiations were conducted by Mr. Downey and two independent Aura directors who faced off against executives and independent directors from Yamana who did not include Mr. Marrone or Mr. Mars.

Both companies received fairness opinions from outside investment banks that were retained to evaluate the merits of the transaction.

This is not the first time Yamana has done a deal with a company related to Mr. Marrone. Late in 2005, Yamana struck a $49-million deal to take over RNC Gold Inc. Mr. Marrone was on RNC's board and owned more than 500,000 RNC shares including options.

--------------
edit cant see any new sales since that prev mentioned - however nice grant of options in meantime!

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchang...newsPerPage=200