VANCOUVER, October 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Third quarter production of 26,200 tonnes of copper
Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone") (TSX: CS) today announced
operating results for the three and nine months ending September 30, 2014 of its three operating mines:
Pinto Valley, Cozamin and Minto.
Combined production totalled 26,200 and 81,500 tonnes of copper (in
concentrates and cathode) in the third quarter and year-to-date
periods, respectively, with additional by-products of zinc,
molybdenum, lead, silver and gold.
Q3 2014 Production (tonnes)
YTD
Q1 Q2 Q3 2014
Pinto Valley
Copper in concentrates 16,700 16,900 15,800 49,400
Copper cathode 600 500 700 1,800
Pinto Valley Total 17,300 17,400 16,500 51,200
Cozamin
Copper in concentrates 5,100 5,200 4,900 15,200
Minto
Copper in concentrates 5,200 5,100 4,800 15,100
Total Copper production(1) 27,600 27,700 26,200 81,500
Totals may not add due to rounding. (1) Total production
includes copper in concentrate and cathode production.
"All of our mines are operating according to plan and copper
production remains on target to meet our guidance for the year,"
said Darren Pylot, President and CEO
of Capstone. "Pinto Valley continues to produce on plan and our
focus remains on a number of cost improvement and mill reliability
initiatives."
Operational Highlights
- Payable copper shipped for the quarter from all three mines was
29,031 tonnes.
- Pinto Valley recoveries continued strong in the third quarter,
more than offsetting marginally lower throughput than planned.
Grade was as expected for the quarter. The mill posted its highest
average quarterly throughput to date and has continued to
demonstrate consistent improvement, averaging just under expected
rates for the third quarter. Heavy rains in September caused some
wet ore to slow the crushing circuit. The main focus in the quarter
was the re-build and commissioning of the molybdenum circuit and
the implementation of the PV2 mine plan, receiving the first of two
new hydraulic shovels, which was operational by the end of
quarter.
- At Cozamin, throughput and recoveries were good, partially
offsetting lower copper grade than planned. The copper grade
improved in September, slightly later than called for in the 2014
mine plan as the installation of additional ground support impacted
the release of some new mining areas.
- At Minto, throughput and
recoveries continued as planned. Grade was slightly lower than
planned as more stockpile was milled than originally planned to
maximize throughput. The Area 118 open pit mining was completed in
September and the M-Zone underground is expected to be completed in
October. Processing in the fourth quarter will be from stockpile,
supplemented with ore from the M-Zone along with Area 118
underground which has been brought forward in the mine plan.
Q3 2014 Operating Details
Pinto Valley Cozamin Minto
Q3 YTD 2014 Q3 YTD 2014 Q3 YTD 2014
Contained Copper Production(1) (contained in concentrates and cathode)
- Copper in
concentrate
(tonnes) 15,819 49,412 4,948 15,240 4,761 15,112
- Copper cathode
(tonnes) 650 1,796 - - - -
- Zinc (tonnes) - - 1,517 4,877 - -
- Molybdenum
(Mo tonnes) 15 64 - - - -
- Lead (tonnes) - - 190 935 - -
- Silver (ounces) 85,272 231,307 392,864 1,267,142 38,916 147,319
- Gold (ounces)(2) - - - - 6,198 16,512
Payable Copper
Production(1)
(tonnes)
(in concentrate
and cathode) 15,931(3) 49,526(3) 4,733 14,567 4,607 14,621
Mine
- Ore (tonnes) -
open pit 5,499,995 15,968,559 - - 89,009 477,457
- Waste (tonnes) 246,934 802,308 - - 873,062 2,770,232
- Ore (tonnes) -
underground - - 301,636 914,669 135,210 232,660
Mill
- Tonnes
processed 4,498,364 12,871,778 301,673 923,155 360,296 1,088,267
- Tonnes
processed per day 48,895 47,149 3,279 3,382 3,916 3,986
- Copper grade (%) 0.39(3) 0.43 (3) 1.76 1.78 1.41 1.48
- Zinc grade (%) - - 0.78 0.86 - -
- Molybdenum
grade (%) 0.012 0.012 - - - -
- Lead grade (%) - - 0.13 0.19 - -
- Silver grade (g/t) * * 57.7 60.1 4.4 5.2
- Gold grade (g/t) - - - - 0.65 0.60
Recoveries
- Copper (%) 90.3(3) 89.0 (3) 93.0 92.7 93.8 93.9
- Zinc (%) - - 64.7 61.1 - -
- Lead (%) - - 48.5 53.2 - -
- Silver (%) * * 70.2 71.0 77.1 80.4
- Gold (%) - - - - 82.3 78.7
Concentrates(2)
- Copper
concentrate (dmt) 51,280 162,622 19,160 59,960 12,470 39,330
Copper (%) 30.8 30.4 25.8 25.4 38.2 38.4
Silver (g/t) * * 586.0 591.0 97.0 116.5
Gold (g/t) - - - - 15.5 13.1
- Zinc concentrate
(dmt) - - 3,364 10,519 - -
Zinc (%) - - 45.1 46.4 - -
- Molybdenum
concentrate (dmt) 29 128 - - - -
- Lead concentrate
(dmt) - - 343 1,554 - -
Lead (%) - - 55.4 60.2 - -
Silver (g/t) - - 2,904 2,557 - -
Payable Copper
Shipped (tonnes)
(in concentrate
and cathode) 17,521 48,686 5,098 15,014 6,412 16,495
(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 above. (3) Grade
and recoveries were estimated based on concentrate production.
*Silver has not been estimated in the Pinto Valley resource model.
Only recovered silver is reported for this mine.
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 Q3 2014 financial results on Wednesday October 29, 2014 after market close,
followed by a conference call and webcast for investors and
analysts on Thursday, October 30,
2014 at 11:30 am Eastern Time
(8:30 am Pacific Time).
Conference Call and Webcast Details
Date: Thursday, October 30, 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/1420970/1578324
Replay: North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677
Replay Passcode: 273766#
The conference call replay will be available until Thursday, November 13, 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,
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
copper-silver mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico and the Minto copper mine in Yukon, Canada. In addition, Capstone has two
copper 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 copper-zinc Kutcho
project in British Columbia,
Canada, as well as exploration properties in Chile. 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 "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