VANCOUVER, British Columbia,
October 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone")
(TSX: CS) today announced production results for the three and nine
months ended September 30, 2017.
Combined production totalled 22,000 and 67,000 tonnes of copper in
the third quarter and year-to-date periods, respectively, with
additional by-products of zinc, molybdenum, lead, silver and
gold.
Q3 and YTD 2017 Copper Production (tonnes)
Q1 Q2 Q3 YTD 2017
Pinto Valley 11,300 15,500 14,400 41,200
Cozamin 4,100 4,100 4,200 12,500
Minto 5,500 4,400 3,400 13,300
Total copper production [(1)] 20,900 24,000 22,000 67,000
(1) Total production includes copper in concentrate and cathode production.
"Cozamin once again outperformed in the third quarter, partially
offsetting lower production at Pinto Valley and Minto," said Darren
Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "As we enter the
fourth quarter, all operations are on track and we expect to
achieve the low end of our guided production range for the
year."
Operational Highlights
- At Pinto Valley, production was below expectations due to
throughput disruptions caused by electrical outages in August and a
second one in September. Remediation work on the affected circuit
will be completed in October; however the plant is operating
normally on a temporary repair. Additionally, focus in the quarter
shifted from throughput maximization to overall mill
optimization.
- Copper production at Cozamin exceeded expectations, driven by
higher throughput. Mine development continues to advance ahead of
schedule, increasing production flexibility at the operation.
- At Minto, production for the
quarter continued to be impacted by mine sequencing changes to
support the previously announced mine life extension. Underground
mining was halted for six weeks in order to upgrade the emergency
response capacity in the current stoping areas while development to
the Minto East deposit continued. Partially oxidized ore from the
Area 2, Stage 3 open pit and low grade stockpiles supplemented the
mill feed during the quarter to offset the resulting underground
ore shortfall, causing lower head grade and recoveries than
originally planned.
Q3 and YTD 2017 Operating
Details
Pinto Valley Cozamin Minto
Q3 YTD 2017 Q3 YTD 2017 Q3 YTD 2017
Contained Production [(1)]
- Copper (tonnes) 14,381 41,171 4,242 12,478 3,403 13,328
- Zinc (tonnes) - - 1,173 3,217 - -
- Molybdenum (Mo tonnes) - 7 - - - -
- Lead (tonnes) - - 12 49 - -
- Silver (ounces) 79,371 227,119 241,555 737,029 42,641 140,814
- Gold (ounces) [(2)] 79 3,499 - - 8,484 22,093
Payable Copper Production
[(1) ](tonnes)
(in concentrate and cathode) 13,894 39,781 4,075 11,992 3,292 12,895
Mine
- Ore (tonnes) - open pit 5,210,618 15,258,387 - - 224,174 800,346
- Waste (tonnes) 6,465,014 19,608,566 - - 1,187,504 5,507,271
- Ore (tonnes) - underground - - 223,846 692,070 61,422 221,347
Mill
- Tonnes processed 4,974,294 14,490,039 223,446 688,468 342,282 1,089,477
- Tonnes processed per day 54,068 53,077 2,429 2,522 3,720 3,991
- Copper grade (%) 0.31 [(3)] 0.31[(3)] 1.98 1.89 1.31 1.47
- Zinc grade (%) - - 0.80 0.71 - -
- Molybdenum grade (%) - 0.005 - - - -
- Lead grade (%) - - 0.08 0.07 - -
- Silver grade (g/t) * * 42.2 42.5 5.0 5.1
- Gold grade (g/t) * * - - 0.62 0.91
Recoveries
- Copper (%) 91.0 [(3)] 87.1[(3)] 96.1 96.0 76.0 83.0
- Zinc (%) - - 65.7 65.9 - -
- Lead (%) - - 7.0 10.1 - -
- Silver (%) * * 79.7 78.3 77.2 78.9
- Gold (%) * * - - 73.8 58.6
Concentrates
- Copper concentrate (dmt) 49,406 141,379 15,688 45,592 8,090 29,729
Copper (%) 28.1 28.1 27.0 27.4 42.1 44.8
Silver (g/t) * * 476.0 497.6 163.9 147.3
Gold (g/t) * * - - 19.5 19.5
- Zinc concentrate (dmt) - - 2,463 6,719 - -
Zinc (%) - - 47.6 47.9 - -
- Molybdenum concentrate
(dmt) - - - - - -
- Lead concentrate (dmt) - - 20 79 - -
Lead (%) - - 62.1 61.8 - -
Silver (g/t) - - 2,392 3,009 - -
Payable Copper Shipped
(tonnes) 14,591 39,534 4,185 12,022 4,212 13,785
(1) Adjustments based on final settlements will be made in future periods. (2) Pinto
Valley gold production reaches payable levels from time to time. Any payable gold
production will be reported in the period revenue is received. At Minto, final gold
production is not available since assaying is conducted off-site, but is estimated
above. (3) Grade and recoveries were estimated based on concentrate production.
*Silver and gold have not been estimated in the Pinto Valley resource model. Only
recovered silver and payable gold is reported for this mine.
Operating Outlook
Capstone expects to reach the low end of the range of 2017
consolidated production guidance of 94,000 tonnes (±5%) of
copper.
Financial Results Timing
Capstone will report Q3 2017 financial results on Thursday, October 26, 2017 after market close,
followed by a conference call and webcast for investors and
analysts on Friday, October 27, 2017
at 10:00 am Eastern Time
(7:00 am Pacific Time).
Conference Call and Webcast Details
Date: Friday, October 27, 2017
Time: 10:00 am Eastern Time (7:00 am Pacific Time)
Dial in: North America: +1-888-390-0546, International: +416-764-8688
Webcast: http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1521082&s=1&k=489A38C7B3561FDCCA3C27399CAE40D9
Replay: North America: +1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677
Replay
Passcode: 218958#
The conference call replay will be available until Friday, November 3, 2017. The conference call
audio and transcript will be available on Capstone's website within
48 hours of the call
at http://capstonemining.com/investors/events-and-presentations/default.aspx.
About Capstone Mining Corp.
Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company,
focused on copper. We are committed to the responsible development
of our assets and the environments in which we operate. Our three
producing mines are the Pinto Valley copper mine located in
Arizona, US, the Cozamin
polymetallic mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico and the Minto copper mine in Yukon, Canada. In addition, Capstone has two
development projects; the large scale 70% owned copper-iron
Santo Domingo project in Region
III, Chile, in partnership with
Korea Resources Corporation, and the 100% owned Kutcho copper-zinc
project in British Columbia,
Canada, as well as exploration properties in Chile and US. Capstone's strategy is to focus
on the optimization of operations and assets in politically stable,
mining-friendly regions, centred in the Americas. Our headquarters
are in Vancouver, Canada and we
are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Further information
is available at http://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 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 our expectations or beliefs regarding
future events. Forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to, statements with respect to the estimation of mineral
resources and mineral reserves, the realization of mineral reserve
estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production,
costs of production and capital expenditures, the success of our
mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation
expenses and title disputes. In certain cases, forward-looking
statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans",
"expects", "expected", "potentially", "guidance" 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 "guidance", "planned"
and "expects". By their very nature, forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to
be materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements. Such factors include, amongst others, risks related to
inherent hazards associated with mining operations, assumptions
related to geotechnical condition of tailings facilities, future
prices of copper and other metals, compliance with financial
covenants, surety bonding, our ability to raise capital,
counterparty risks associated with sales of our metals, use of
financial derivative instruments and associated counterparty risks,
foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, changes in general
economic conditions, accuracy of mineral resource and mineral
reserve estimates, operating in foreign jurisdictions with risk of
changes to governmental regulation, compliance with governmental
regulations, compliance with environmental laws and regulations,
reliance on approvals, licences and permits from governmental
authorities, impact of climatic conditions on our Pinto Valley,
Cozamin and Minto operations,
aboriginal title claims and rights to consultation and
accommodation, land reclamation and mine closure obligations,
uncertainties and risks related to the potential development of the
Santo Domingo Project, increased operating and capital costs,
challenges to title to our mineral properties, dependence on key
management personnel, potential conflicts of interest involving our
directors and officers, corruption and bribery, limitations
inherent in our insurance coverage, labour relations, increasing
energy prices, competition in the mining industry, risks associated
with joint venture partners, our ability to integrate new
acquisitions into our operations, cybersecurity threats 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 under
the Company's profile on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com . Although
the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could
cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ
materially from those described in our forward-looking statements,
there may be other factors that cause our results, performance or
achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There
can be no assurance that our forward-looking statements will prove
to be accurate, as our actual results, performance or achievements
could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on our
forward-looking statements.
National Instrument 43-101 Compliance
The technical information in this news release ("Technical
Information") 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"). The disclosure of the Technical Information contained in
this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gregg Bush, P. Eng., Capstone Senior Vice
President and Chief Operating Officer, a Qualified Person under NI
43-101.
Media contact:
Cindy Burnett
VP, Investor Relations and Communications
+1-604-637-8157
cburnett@capstonemining.com