VANCOUVER, British Columbia,
April 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
First quarter production of 23,700
tonnes of copper
Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone") (TSX: CS) today announced
operating results for the three months ending March 31, 2015. Combined copper production
totalled 23,700 tonnes, with additional by-products of zinc,
molybdenum, lead, silver and gold.
Q1 2015 Production (tonnes)
Pinto Valley
Copper in concentrates and cathode 15,800
Cozamin
Copper in concentrates 3,800
Minto
Copper in concentrates 4,100
Total copper production 23,700
"Our copper production for the quarter came in right on target,"
said Darren Pylot, President and CEO
of Capstone. "Pinto Valley met guidance, with better than predicted
grades and flexibility in the mine plan allowing us to adjust the
mine plan as necessary while we are continuing with the improvement
of our mill maintenance systems. Outperformance at Minto more than made up for the shortfall at
Cozamin, which is being addressed through ongoing improvements to
mine development practices."
Operational Highlights
- Combined payable copper shipments from all mines totalled
20,082 tonnes.
- At Pinto Valley, mill throughput was lower than planned and is
being addressed through a number of mill initiatives. However,
better than predicted block grades and flexibility in the mine plan
allowed for the mining and processing of higher grade ore, ensuring
copper production met guidance. As a result of enhancements to the
PV2 mine plan moving forward, this minor rescheduling is not
expected to have a material impact on future periods.
- At Cozamin, both grade and throughput were lower than planned
as implementation of new ground support procedures advanced slower
than expected in the first part of the quarter. Benefits from
additional training were realized by March, with activities now
underway to improve development performance and increase longhole
inventory. The current plan calls for Cozamin to make up the
production shortfall from the first quarter throughout the
remainder of 2015.
- At Minto, production was
significantly higher than planned due to ore from Area 118
underground that was above model grades, combined with the
successful mining of a switchback in the Area 2 Stage 2 pit in
advance of it being required for water storage, which was not in
the mine plan. The hearing held by the Yukon Water Board on the
Water Use Licence amendment took place during the first week of
March and we await receipt of the licence. The current plan has the
mill continuing to process underground and stockpiled ore, with
surface mining on hold until receipt of the required licence which
is expected in the second quarter.
Q1 2015 Operating Details
Pinto Valley Cozamin Minto Total
Contained Copper Production(1)
- Copper in concentrate and cathode (tonnes) 15,809 3,773 4,095 23,677
- Zinc (tonnes) - 1,671 - 1,671
- Molybdenum (Mo tonnes) 49 - - 49
- Lead (tonnes) - 281 - 281
- Silver (ounces) 72,368 285,701 37,919 395,988
- Gold (ounces)(2) - - 3,792 3,792
Payable Copper Production(1) (tonnes) 15,282 3,609 3,962 22,853
Mine
- Ore (tonnes) - open pit 4,704,771 - 80,297 4,785,068
- Waste (tonnes) 2,057,796 - 58,400 2,116,196
- Ore (tonnes) - underground - 288,219 96,491 384,710
Mill
- Tonnes processed 4,037,635 286,591 334,961 4,659,187
- Tonnes processed per day 44,863 3,184 3,722 51,769
- Copper grade (%) 0.43(3) 1.42 1.42 0.56
- Zinc grade (%) - 0.83 - 0.83
- Molybdenum grade (%) 0.011 - - 0.011
- Lead grade (%) - 0.17 - 0.17
- Silver grade (g/t) * 44.0 4.52 22.7
- Gold grade (g/t) - - 0.48 0.48
Recoveries
- Copper (%) 88.6(3) 92.9 85.9 88.7
- Zinc (%) - 70.1 - 70.1
- Lead (%) - 56.3 - 56.3
- Silver (%) * 70.4 77.9 71.2
- Gold (%) - - 73.9 73.9
Concentrates
- Copper concentrate (dmt) 53,593 14,611 11,663 79,867
Copper (%) 28.4 25.8 35.1 28.9
Silver (g/t) * 516.0 101.1 331.9
Gold (g/t) - - 10.1 10.1
- Zinc concentrate (dmt) - 3,534 - 3,534
Zinc (%) - 47.3 - 47.3
- Molybdenum concentrate (dmt) 98 - - 98
- Lead concentrate (dmt) - 456 - 456
Lead (%) - 61.5 - 61.5
Silver (g/t) - 2,949 - 2,949
Payable Copper Shipped (tonnes) 13,289 3,872 2,921 20,082
(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 has not been estimated in the Pinto Valley
resource model. Only recovered silver is reported for this
mine.
Production Outlook
Capstone's 2015 guidance for 90,000 tonnes (±5%) of copper in
concentrates and cathode, at a C1 cash cost(1) of
$2.00 to $2.10 per pound of payable
copper produced net of by-product credits and selling costs,
remains unchanged.
(1) This is an alternative performance measure; please see
"Alternative Performance Measures" at the end of this release. All
amounts in US$ unless otherwise specified.
Financial Results Timing
Capstone will report Q1 2015 financial results on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 after market close,
followed by a conference call and webcast for investors and
analysts on Wednesday, April 29, 2015
at 11:30 am Eastern Time
(8:30 am Pacific Time).
Conference Call and Webcast Details
Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2015
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/1492981/1662973
Replay: North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677
Replay Passcode: 822166#
The conference call replay will be available until Wednesday, May 13, 2015. The conference call
audio and transcript will be available on Capstone's website within
approximately 24 hours of the call at
http://capstonemining.com/investors/conference-calls-and-webcasts/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
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 extend the lives of
our current mines with mineral resource and reserve expansions, to
advance the Santo Domingo
development project, conduct focused exploration and grow 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 (Technical Information related to mining and
production) 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.
Cindy Burnett, VP, Investor
Relations and Communications, +1-604-637-8157,
cburnett@capstonemining.com