VANCOUVER, British Columbia,
April 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
First quarter production of 27,600 tonnes of copper
Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone") (TSX: CS) today announced
operating results for the three months ending March 31, 2014 of its three operating mines:
Pinto Valley, Cozamin and Minto. Combined production totalled
27,600 tonnes of copper (in concentrates and cathode), with
additional by-products of zinc, molybdenum, lead, silver and
gold.
Q1 2014 Production (tonnes)
Pinto Valley
Copper in concentrates 16,700
Copper cathode 600
Pinto Valley Total 17,300
Cozamin
Copper in concentrates 5,100
Minto
Copper in concentrates 5,200
Total Copper production[(1)] 27,600
Totals may not add due to rounding. (1) Total production
includes copper in concentrate and cathode production.
"All three of our mines performed very well this quarter, with
Pinto Valley meeting our expectations and Cozamin and Minto also
delivering as planned," said Darren
Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "Our primary focus
remains on stabilizing operations and reducing costs at Pinto
Valley. We completed the transfer of all the enterprise operating
systems to Capstone in the first quarter and are continuing with a
number of initiatives designed to enhance the stability and
predictability of production at Pinto Valley."
Operational Highlights
- Pinto Valley production finished the first quarter essentially
on plan, with grade and recoveries offsetting a minor shortfall in
throughput. A number of initiatives are underway related to
production stability, with March showing an improvement over the
first two months of the quarter.
- Cozamin is also on plan, with average throughput for February
and March of over 3,800 tonnes per day making up for an unplanned
transformer outage that affected production in January. The higher
throughput over the course of the quarter offset minor shortfalls
in grade and recovery.
- Minto also exited Q1 on plan, with strong throughput, mill
availability and recoveries compensating for slightly lower grades.
The mill achieved a monthly throughput production record in March
of 4,222 tonnes per day.
- Payable copper shipped for the quarter from all three mines was
26,600 tonnes.
Q1 2014 Operating Details
Pinto Valley Cozamin Minto Total
Contained Copper Production[(1)] (contained in concentrates and cathode)
- Copper in concentrate (tonnes) 16,701 5,101 5,221 27,023
- Copper cathode (tonnes) 621 - - 621
- Zinc (tonnes) - 1,632 - 1,632
- Molybdenum (MoS2 tonnes) 41 - - 41
- Lead (tonnes) 516 - 516
- Silver (ounces) * 452,104 57,851 509,955
- Gold (ounces)[(2)] - - 5,128 5,128
Payable Copper Production[(1)]
(tonnes)
(in concentrate and cathode) 16,714 4,870 5,051 26,635
Mine (tonnes)
- Ore 5,606,131 309,744 255,133 6,171,008
- Waste 726 - 833,203 833,929
Mill
- Tonnes processed 4,211,005 307,925 352,653 4,871,583
- Tonnes processed per day 46,789 3,421 3,918 54,128
- Copper grade (%) 0.45[(3)] 1.79 1.58 0.62
- Zinc grade (%) - 0.87 - 0.87
- Molybdenum grade (%) 0.0127 - - 0.0127
- Lead grade (%) - 0.28 - 0.28
- Silver grade (g/t) * 62.99 6.26 32.70
- Gold grade (g/t) - - 0.60 0.60
Recoveries
- Copper (%) 87.7[(3)] 92.3 93.6 88.4
- Zinc (%) - 60.6 - 60.6
- Lead (%) - 60.5 - 60.5
- Silver (%) * 72.5 81.5 77.3
- Gold (%) - - 75.9 75.9
Concentrates[(2)]
- Copper concentrate (dmt) 55,672 20,675 13,538 89,885
Copper (%) 30.0 24.7 38.6 30.1
Silver (g/t) * 583.0 132.9 404.9
Gold (g/t) - - 11.8 11.8
- Zinc concentrate (dmt) - 3,531 - 3,531
Zinc (%) - 46.2 - 46.2
- Molybdenum concentrate (dmt) 49.8 - - 49.8
- Lead concentrate (dmt) - 819 - 819
Lead (%) - 63.0 - 63.0
Silver (g/t) - 2,454 - 2,454
Payable Copper Shipped (tonnes)
(in concentrate and cathode) 15,430 4,708 6,463 26,601
(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.
(3) Grade and recoveries were estimated for the first quarter
based on concentrate production. *Silver production at Pinto Valley is not yet
available since assays are conducted offsite. Capstone will commence reporting of
Pinto Valley silver starting later in 2014.
Production Outlook
Capstone's 2014 guidance for 102,000 tonnes ±5% of copper in
concentrates, at a C1 cash
cost[(1)] of US$1.90 to US$2.00 per pound of payable copper,
net of by-product credits and selling costs, remains unchanged.
Financial Results Timing
Capstone will report Q1 2014 financial results on Wednesday, May 7, 2014 after market close,
followed by a conference call and webcast for investors and
analysts on Thursday, May 8, 2014 at
11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time).
Conference Call and Webcast Details
Date: Thursday, May 8, 2014
Time: 11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time)
Dial in: North America: 1-888-390-0546, International: +416-764-8688
Webcast: http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/detail/1321109/1459105
Replay: North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677
Replay Passcode: 667588
The conference call replay will be available until May 22, 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.
(1) This is an alternative performance measure; please see "Alternative Performance Measures" at the end of this release.
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 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; counterparty risks associated with sales
of our metals; changes in general economic conditions; increased
operating and capital costs; operating in foreign jurisdictions
with risk of changes to governmental regulation; impact of climatic
conditions on our Pinto Valley, Cozamin and Minto operations;
increasing energy prices; our ability to integrate new acquisitions
into our operations, 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.
Alternative Performance Measures
The item marked with (1) "C1 Cash Cost per Pound of Payable
Copper Produced" is an Alternative Performance Measure. This
performance measure is included because this statistic is a key
performance measure that management uses to monitor performance.
Management uses this statistic to assess how the Company is
performing to plan and to assess the overall effectiveness and
efficiency of mining operations. This performance measure does not
have a meaning within IFRS and, therefore, amounts presented may
not be comparable to similar data presented by other mining
companies. This performance measure should not be considered in
isolation as a substitute for measures of performance in accordance
with IFRS.
For further information:
Cindy Burnett, VP, Investor
Relations and Communications
+1-604-637-8157
cburnett@capstonemining.com
SOURCE Capstone Mining Corp.