What happened Shares of Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY) are soaring today, up by 10% as of 2 p.m EDT. While the price of gold has been rising, too, it's a modest increase and not enough to move the broader precious metals space very much. The main reason for the miner's stock-price jump is an update on its exploration and development plans. So what This morning, Yamana announced that it had achieved "significant exploration results" at its Jacobina and El Penon mines. Investors clearly liked what they heard and pushed the shares higher. Image source: Getty Images. At Jacobina, Yamana noted that what was once the "extended mine life" plan has now become the base case scenario for the asset. Thus, after successful exploration results, the company now expects Jacobina to have a 14.5-year mine life. That said, management made clear that it has had great success extending the life of this mine over time. It believes that further exploration could result in even more positive outcomes, so additional good news isn't out of the question at Jacobina. At El Penon, Yamana -- and here I'm simplifying things a great deal -- found additional gold veins. Management believes these results are consistent with its plan for a 10-year mine life. However, the processing facilities at this site are underutilized, so the positive results here could actually lead to higher output from the mine. That would spread operating costs over more ounces and likely reduce all-in sustaining costs for the asset. Now what Yamana actually shared a great deal of detail in its release, so investors can really dig into the story here if they want to. But the big picture is that the gold miner's exploration spending is bearing fruit, and that is very good news indeed. 10 stocks we like better than Yamana GoldWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Yamana Gold wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of April 16, 2020 Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source