VANCOUVER, January 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
2013 production of 113.8 million pounds of copper
Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone") (TSX: CS) today announced
operating results for the three and twelve month periods ending
December 31, 2013 of its three
operating mines: Pinto Valley, Cozamin and Minto. Combined production totalled 56.9 and
113.8 million pounds of copper (in concentrates and cathode) in the
fourth quarter and full year 2013, respectively, with additional
by-products of zinc, molybdenum, lead, silver and gold.
2013 Production (millions of pounds)
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2013
Pinto Valley (for 82 days of ownership)
Copper in concentrates - - - 29.6 29.6
Copper cathode - - - 1.4 1.4
Pinto Valley Total - - - 31.0 31.0
Cozamin
Copper in concentrates 10.1 12.1 11.6 11.6 45.5
Minto
Copper in concentrates 8.5 7.2 7.3 14.3 37.2
Total Copper production(1) 18.6 19.3 18.9 56.9 113.8
Totals may not add due to rounding. (1) Total production
includes copper in concentrate and cathode production.
"Capstone met overall 2013 copper production targets, with
outperformance at Pinto Valley and Cozamin comfortably offsetting
lower production at Minto," said
Darren Pylot, President and CEO of
Capstone. "Pinto Valley performed very well in the fourth quarter
and is presently operating very close to the targeted mill
throughput rate of 50,000 tonnes per day. Cozamin performed better
than plan and the grade increase at Minto made a meaningful contribution to the
very strong performance for the quarter."
Operational Highlights
- At Pinto Valley we exceeded our earlier production forecasts as
throughput and recoveries trended to targeted sustainable rates
through the end of the year.
- Cozamin performed better than expected in the fourth quarter
and posted an excellent result for the year. The mine achieved an
annual throughput record in 2013 of 3,305 tonnes per day, with
grade and recoveries coming in very close to expectations for the
quarter and year.
- At Minto, November and
December were pivotal months with ore grade increasing to over 2%
copper and recoveries at high levels. The mill achieved a monthly
throughput production record in December of 4,179 tonnes per
day.
Q4 2013 Operating Details
Pinto Valley Cozamin Minto
Q4 2013
(82 days) 2013 Q4 2013 2013 Q4 2013 2013
Production(1) (contained in concentrates and cathode)
Copper in
concentrate
(000s lbs) 29,618 29,618 11,627 45,515 14,268 37,238
Copper cathode
(000s lbs) 1,421 1,421 - - - -
Zinc (000s lbs) - - 4,161 17,825 - -
Molybdenum
(000s lbs) 14 14 - - - -
Lead (000s lbs) - - 277 2,728 - -
Silver (ounces) * * 432,190 1,682,347 66,459 162,310
Gold
(ounces)(2) - - - - 9,126 18,361
Mine (tones)
Ore 4,538,278 4,538,278 315,730 1,208,572 1,186,036 2,012,657
Waste 10,341 10,341 - - 1,452,071 9,696,301
Mill
Tonnes
processed 3,730,240 3,730,240 314,746 1,206,383 359,023 1,402,264
Tonnes
processed per
day 45,490 45,490 3,421 3,305 3,902 3,842
Copper grade
(%) 0.42(3) 0.42(3) 1.85 1.86 1.92 1.31
Zinc grade (%) - - 1.13 1.12 - -
Molybdenum
grade (%) 0.01 0.01 - - - -
Lead grade (%) - - 0.10 0.19 - -
Silver grade
(g/t) * * 60.7 61.0 6.90 4.59
Gold grade
(g/t) - - - - 0.98 0.52
Recoveries
Copper (%) 85.0(3) 85.0(3) 90.8 92.1 93.9 92.3
Zinc (%) - - 53.3 60.1 - -
Lead (%) - - 40.6 54.5 - -
Silver (%) * * 70.3 71.1 83.2 78.5
Gold (%) - - - - 80.6 78.4
Concentrates(2)
Copper
concentrate
(dmt) 50,235 50,235 21,731 81,351 16,663 46,303
Copper
(%) 26.8 26.8 24.3 25.4 38.8 36.5
Silver
(g/t) * * 582.0 574.3 124.0 109.0
Gold
(g/t) - - - - 17.0 12.3
Zinc
concentrate
(dmt) - - 4,028 16,928 - -
Zinc (%) - - 46.8 47.8 - -
Molybdenum
concentrate
(dmt) 14 14 - - - -
Lead
concentrate
(dmt) - - 272 2,205 - -
Lead (%) - - 46.3 56.1 - -
Silver
(g/t) - - 2,944 2,541 - -
YTD totals may not add due to rounding. (1) Adjustments based on
final settlements will be made in future periods. (2) Final gold
production is not available since assaying is conducted off-site,
but is estimated as above. *Silver production at Pinto Valley is
not yet available since assays are conducted offsite. Capstone will
commence reporting of Pinto Valley silver starting in 2014. (3)
Grade and recoveries were estimated for the fourth quarter based on
concentrate production.
Production Outlook
Capstone will provide 2014 operating and capital guidance for
Cozamin, Minto and Development and
Exploration activities later this week. Pinto Valley guidance will
follow before the end of the first quarter.
2013 Financial Results Timing
Capstone will report 2013 financial results on Thursday, February 20, 2014 after market close,
followed by a conference call and webcast for investors and
analysts on Friday, February 21, 2014
at 9:30 am Eastern Time (6:30 am Pacific Time).
Conference Call and Webcast
Details
Date:
Friday, February 21, 2014
Time:
9:30 am Eastern Time -- 6:30 am Pacific Time
Dial in:
North America: 1-888-390-0546, International: +416-764-8688
Webcast:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/detail/1282857/1415355
Replay: North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677
Replay Passcode:
099750
The conference call replay will be available until March 7, 2014. 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,
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 estimation of mineral reserves
and mineral resources, the conversion of mineral resources to
mineral reserves, 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; availability of infrastructure required for the
development of mining projects; 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 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 Brad Skeeles, P. Eng., Vice President of North
American Operations, and Gregg Bush,
P. Eng., Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, both
Qualified Persons under NI 43-101.
For further information:
Cindy Burnett, VP, Investor
Relations and Communications
+1-604-637-8157
cburnett@capstonemining.com