We consider self-adjoint operators of black-box type which are exponentially
close to the free Laplacian near infinity, and prove an exponential bound for
the resolvent in a strip away from resonances. Here the resonances are defined
as poles of the meromorphic continuation of the resolvent between appropriate
exponentially weighted spaces. We then use a local version of the maximum
principle to prove that any cluster of real quasimodes generates at least as
many resonances, with multiplicity, rapidly converging to the quasimodes