Toronto-based Yamana Gold Inc. will further hike its annual dividend by 25% to 5 cents per share as of the first quarter of 2020.

During the third quarter, the company already boosted its dividend by 100%.

Yamana Gold said Dec. 16 that the dividend increases were made on the back of a growing cash balance and continuing initiatives to monetize its portfolio of nonproducing assets and financial instruments.

In late November, the company dropped its 70% earn-in option on Northern Superior Resources Inc.'s TPK gold-silver-copper property in Ontario.

In the third quarter, Yamana Gold swung to an attributable net income of US$201.3 million, from a year-ago net loss of US$81.3 million, thanks to a US$273.1 million gain on the sale of the Chapada copper-gold mine in Brazil.

The company is also establishing a reserve dividend fund that will allow it to continue to pay dividends for up to three years if the price of gold drops and affects margins.