Capstone 2012 Third Quarter Production Results on Track
Year-to-date production of 63.1 million pounds of copper in concentrates
VANCOUVER, Oct. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Capstone Mining Corp. (“Capstone”)
(TSX: CS) today announced its operating results for the three and nine
months ended September 30, 2012 for its two operating mines, Cozamin
and Minto. Combined production totalled 22.6 and 63.1 million pounds of
copper in concentrates in the third quarter and first nine months,
respectively, with additional by-products of lead, zinc, silver and
gold.
Q3 2012 Production
Q1 2012 Q2 2012 Q3 2012 YTD 2012
Copper in concentrates
(millions of pounds)
Cozamin 13.0 12.1 11.0 36.1
Minto 5.6 9.8 11.6 27.0
Total 18.6 21.9 22.6 63.1
“Both mines continued to operate according to plan in the third
quarter,” said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone.
“Operations are currently stable, so our expectation is that we will
meet our 2012 production guidance of 80 million pounds of copper in
concentrates.”
Operational highlights for the three and nine months ended September 30,
2012
-- Production of 22.6 and63.1 million pounds of copper contained
in concentrates, respectively.
-- By-product production of 4.1 and 12.9 million pounds of zinc,
0.5 and 2.4 million pounds of lead and 431,760 and 1,344,291
ounces of silver in concentrates, respectively. Final gold
production is not available since assaying is conducted
off-site, but is estimated at 6,513 and 11,815 ounces for the
respective periods.
-- At Cozamin, recoveries remained consistent; however tonnage and
copper grade were down due to the planned transitioning to the
outer lower grade edges of stopes. Grades in the fourth
quarter are expected to average 1.7%.
-- At Minto, throughput averaged 3,874 tonnes per day, with grades
and recoveries above second quarter levels. Grade is expected
to decrease in the fourth quarter to 1.4%. This is lower than
originally expected as a result of an unplanned pushback that
is necessary to improve the stability of the west pit highwall
which will impact the fourth quarter mine plan. The pushback
is within the ultimate pit design, so the overall strip ratio
is not expected to change for the Area 2 Pit.
-- On September 24, 2012, the Yukon Water Board issued a draft
amendment to Minto's Water Use License which allows for
tailings deposition in the mined out Main Pit. This draft is
now with the Minister awaiting signature. Final approval is
expected during October, resulting in cost savings of
approximately C$5.00 per tonne of ore milled.
Q3 Operating Details
Cozamin Minto
Q3 2012 YTD 2012 Q3 2012 YTD 2012
Production(1)
(contained in concentrates)
- Copper (000s pounds) 11,010 36,134 11,554 26,956
- Lead (000s pounds) 550 2,368 - -
- Zinc (000s pounds) 4,139 12,876 - -
- Silver (ounces) 369,562 1,203,356 62,196 140,935
- Gold (ounces) - - 6,513 11,815
Mine
- Tonnes of ore mined 283,833 884,824 332,134 709,192
Mill
- Tonnes processed 285,999 887,487 356,414 1,029,259
- Tonnes processed per day 3,109 3,239 3,874 3,756
- Copper grade (%) 1.88 1.99 1.6 1.32
- Lead grade (%) 0.17 0.21 - -
- Zinc grade (%) 1.01 1.01 - -
- Silver grade (g/t) 56.7 59.2 6.2 5.1
- Gold grade (g/t) - - 0.64 0.52
Recoveries
- Copper (%) 92.9 93 92.1 90.3
- Lead (%) 52.2 58.1 - -
- Zinc (%) 65.2 65.2 - -
- Silver (%) 70.9 71.3 87.5 84.1
- Gold (%) - - 70.9 68.6
Concentrates (1)
- Copper concentrate (dmt) 19,072 62,326 13,706 32,862
Copper (%) 26.2 26.3 38.2 37.2
Silver (g/t) 550 536 141 133
Gold (g/t) - - 14.8 11.2
- Lead concentrate (dmt) 434 1,800 - -
Lead (%) 57.4 59.7 - -
Silver (g/t) 2,327 2,239 - -
- Zinc concentrate (dmt) 3,925 11,939 - -
Zinc (%) 47.8 48.9 - -
(1) Adjustments based on final settlements will be made in future
periods.
Outlook
Capstone’s 2012 guidance for 80 million pounds (± 5%) of copper in
concentrates remains unchanged. With production at the nine month mark
of the year at 63.1 million pounds and operations at both mines running
well we remain on target to meet guidance for the year.
Q3 Financial Results Timing
Capstone will report 2012 third quarter financial results on Wednesday
November 7, 2012 after market close, followed by a conference call and
webcast for investors and analysts on Thursday November 8, 2012 at
11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time).
Conference Call and Webcast Details
Date: Thursday November 8, 2012
Time: 11:30 am Eastern Time -- 8:30 am Pacific Time
Dial in: North America: 1-888-231-8191, International: 1-647-427-7450
Webcast: http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/detail/1047205/1137953
Replay: North America: 1-855-859-2056, International: 1-416-849-0833
Replay
Passcode: 38430666
The conference call replay will be available until November 22, 2012.
The conference call audio and transcript will be available on
Capstone’s website within approximately 24 hours of the call at http://capstonemining.com/s/Conference_Calls.asp.
About Capstone Mining Corp.
Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company with two
producing copper mines, the Cozamin copper-silver-zinc-lead mine
located in Zacatecas State, Mexico and the Minto copper-gold-silver
mine in Yukon, Canada. In addition, Capstone has two development
projects, the large scale 70% owned Santo Domingo copper-iron-gold
project in Chile in partnership with Korea Resources Corporation and
the 100% owned Kutcho copper-zinc-gold-silver project in British
Columbia, as well as exploration at properties in Australia, Canada,
Chile and Mexico. Using its cash flow and strong balance sheet as a
springboard, Capstone aims to grow organically through continued
mineral resource and reserve expansions and through acquisitions in
politically stable, mining-friendly regions. Additional information is
available at www.capstonemining.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This document may contain “forward-looking information” within the
meaning of Canadian securities legislation and “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, “forward-looking
statements”). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date
of this document and Capstone Mining Corp. (the “Company”) does not
intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these
forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable
securities legislation.
Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance
and reflect Company management’s expectations or beliefs regarding
future events and include, but are not limited to, statements with
respect to the estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources,
the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of
estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures,
success of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated
reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims and limitations on
insurance coverage. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be
identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not
expect”, “is expected”, “outlook”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”,
“forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or
“believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that
certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or
“will be taken”, “occur” or “be achieved” or the negative of these
terms or comparable terminology. In this document certain
forward-looking statements are identified by words including
“scheduled”, “guidance”, “plan”, “planned”, “estimated”, “projections”,
“projected” and “expected”. By their very nature forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements
of the Company to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to actual
results of current exploration activities; changes in project
parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of mineral
resources; possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery
rates; accidents, dependence on key personnel, labour pool constraints,
labour disputes; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or
financing or in the completion of development or construction
activities; and other risks of the mining industry as well as those
factors detailed from time to time in the Company’s interim and annual
financial statements and management’s discussion and analysis of those
statements, all of which are filed and available for review on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that
could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from
those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other
factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated,
estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking
statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future
events could differ materially from those anticipated in such
statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on
forward looking statements.
National Instrument 43-101 Compliance
Unless otherwise indicated, Capstone has prepared the technical
information in this news release (“Technical Information”) based on
information contained in the technical reports, news releases and
MD&A’s (collectively the “Disclosure Documents”) available under
Capstone Mining Corp.’s company profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Each Disclosure Document was prepared by or under the supervision of a
qualified person (a “Qualified Person”) as defined in National
Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the
Canadian Securities Administrators (“NI 43-101″). Readers are
encouraged to review the full text of the Disclosure Documents which
qualifies the Technical Information. Readers are advised that mineral
resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated
economic viability. The Disclosure Documents are each intended to be
read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of
context. The Technical Information is subject to the assumptions and
qualifications contained in the Disclosure Documents.
The disclosure of the technical information contained in this news
release has been reviewed and approved by John Sagman, P. Eng.,
Capstone’s Vice President, Technical Services a Qualified Person under
NI 43-101. In addition, Gregg Bush, Senior Vice President and Chief
Operating Officer for Capstone reviewed all technical information in
this news release.
SOURCE Capstone Mining Corp.
