VANCOUVER, British Columbia,
December 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone") (TSX: CS) today announced
production for the Pinto Valley Mine since it assumed ownership on
October 11, 2013 from BHP Copper
Inc., a subsidiary of BHP Billiton Ltd.
"The ramp up at Pinto Valley is progressing well," said
Darren Pylot, Capstone President and
CEO. "We have been very pleased since taking over the operation on
October 11. Reliability and
availability are continuing to improve, giving us every confidence
that we will achieve steady-state throughput, grade and recoveries
by year-end 2013."
"Our focus in the fourth quarter continues to be on achieving
steady-state operations, identifying opportunities for cost
reductions and advancing the Preliminary Feasibility Study,"
continued Mr. Pylot.
Capstone guided Pinto Valley projected production of 22 to 27
million pounds of contained copper for Capstone's 82 days of
ownership in the fourth quarter of 2013. With the ramp up
proceeding well, fourth quarter production is expected to be at, or
above, the top end of fourth quarter guidance. There is no
associated guidance with respect to cost, given the lack of recent
steady-state historical cost information. A full report of fourth
quarter production and 2014 production guidance will be provided
following year-end.
October 11 to
31 November YTD
2013 2013 (51 days)
Contained Copper Production in
Concentrate (million lbs) 7.3 10.7 18.0
Copper Cathode Production (million lbs) 0.3 0.5 0.8
Total Copper Production (million lbs) 7.6 11.2 18.8
Throughput (dry tonnes per day) 44,900 45,400 45,200
About Capstone Mining Corp.
Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company,
committed to the responsible development of our assets and the
environments in which we operate. We are focused on copper, with
three producing mines; the Pinto Valley copper-molybdenum mine
located in Arizona, US, the
Cozamin copper-silver-zinc-lead mine 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
Region III, Chile, in partnership
with Korea Resources Corporation, and the 100% owned Kutcho
copper-zinc-gold-silver project in British Columbia, Canada, as well as
exploration properties in Canada,
Chile and Mexico. Using our cash flow and strong balance
sheet as a platform, Capstone's strategy is to continue to grow
with mineral resource and reserve expansions and exploration, and
through acquisitions in politically stable, mining-friendly
regions. We will pace our growth with our financial capacity,
ensuring we retain, as a priority, sufficient financial flexibility
to meet the requirements of our existing operations and our
committed development projects, while maintaining an adequate
cushion to deal with market volatility and operating risks inherent
in the mining industry. 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 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 anticipated production from the
Pinto Valley Mine, the realization of mineral reserve estimates,
the timing and amount of estimated future production, success of
mining operations, environmental risks, 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". Forward-looking
statements are based on a number of assumptions which may prove
incorrect, including, but not limited to, the development potential
of the project, current and future commodity prices and exchange
rates and continued daily operation of the Pinto Valley Mine. 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
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; the completion
of development 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 http://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
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
Stephen Winkelmann, Pinto Valley
Mine General Manager, Registered Member of The Society for Mining,
Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. (SME) and Brad Skeeles, P. Eng., Vice President of North
American Operations, both Qualified Persons under NI 43-101. In
addition, Gregg Bush, Senior Vice
President and Chief Operating Officer reviewed all Technical
Information in this news release.
For further information:
Cindy Burnett, VP, Investor
Relations and Communications
+1-604-637-8157
cburnett@capstonemining.com