VANCOUVER, British Columbia,
July 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone")
(TSX: CS) today announced production results for the three and six
months ended June 30, 2016. Combined
production totalled 28,100 and 52,700 tonnes of copper in the
second quarter and year-to-date periods, respectively, with
additional by-products of zinc, molybdenum, lead, silver and
gold.
Q2 2016 Copper Production(tonnes)
Q1 Q2 YTD 2016
Pinto Valley 16,400 18,800 35,200
Cozamin 3,700 3,300 7,000
Minto 4,500 6,000 10,500
Total copper production (1) 24,600 28,100 52,700
(1) Total production includes copper in concentrate and cathode production.
"Consolidated copper production for the second quarter continued
very strong, setting an all-time production record for Capstone.
Pinto Valley exceeded expectations, achieving a third consecutive
quarterly throughput record," said Darren
Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "The stability and
reliability of operations at Pinto Valley has provided a solid
foundation for us to devote our full attention to advancing further
productivity improvements."
Operational Highlights
- At Pinto Valley, throughput continued above plan, setting a
third straight quarterly throughput record of 55,700 tonnes per day
and a quarterly production record. Better than planned copper grade
and recovery also contributed to higher than planned production for
the quarter.
- At Cozamin, production continued to be challenged by a
shortfall in development. The mine underwent a reorganization in
the quarter and a number of additional process improvement and
training resources were implemented. Development rates have
consistently improved, however Cozamin is not expected to reach its
production guidance for 2016.
- At Minto, production was
better than planned, led by strong throughput and recoveries
resulting from continued lower than expected oxide content in the
Minto North ore. Mining continues to advance in the Minto North
pit, with copper grades above 2% reaching the mill by early June,
resulting in significantly higher production planned for the second
half of the year. Underground mining continued through the second
quarter and is planned to extend into Q3, to take advantage of
high-grade underground ore.
Operating Outlook
- Capstone's 2016 production guidance for 108,000 tonnes (±5%) of
copper remains unchanged, however the distribution by mine is
expected to be different than originally guided, with
outperformance at Pinto Valley and Minto expected to make up most of the
anticipated shortfall at Cozamin for the year.
Q2 2016 Operating Details
Pinto Valley Cozamin Minto
Q2 YTD 2016 Q2 YTD 2016 Q2 YTD 2016
Contained Production (1)
- Copper (tonnes) 18,776 35,141 3,288 6,948 6,093 10,615
- Zinc (tonnes) - - 928 1,740 - -
- Molybdenum (Mo tonnes) 43 49 - - - -
- Lead (tonnes) - - 35 69 - -
- Silver (ounces) 100,466 192,753 233,525 500,067 59,647 102,408
- Gold (ounces) (2) 264 705 - - 4,881 7,995
Payable Copper Production
(1)(tonnes)
(in concentrate and
cathode) 18,150 33,966 3,156 6,659 5,895 10,270
Mine
- Ore (tonnes) - open pit 5,714,618 11,229,147 - - 470,650 799,551
- Waste (tonnes) 5,060,151 9,167,144 - - 2,147,575 4,718,345
- Ore (tonnes) -
underground - - 240,747 482,910 21,101 132,066
Mill
- Tonnes processed 5,065,665 10,068,238 243,658 487,559 378,805 741,413
- Tonnes processed per day 55,667 55,320 2,678 2,679 4,163 4,074
- Copper grade (%) 0.40 (3) 0.38 (3) 1.42 1.51 1.68 1.51
- Zinc grade (%) - - 0.63 0.63 - -
- Molybdenum grade (%) 0.007 0.007 - - - -
- Lead grade (%) - - 0.08 0.08 - -
- Silver grade (g/t) * * 41 44 6 5
- Gold grade (g/t) * * - - 0.61 0.51
Recoveries
- Copper (%) 89.7 (3) 87.4 (3) 94.8 94.6 95.5 95.1
- Zinc (%) - - 60.3 56.8 - -
- Lead (%) - - 18.9 18.9 - -
- Silver (%) * * 72.8 71.8 82.6 80.4
- Gold (%) * * - - 66.1 66.4
Concentrates
- Copper concentrate (dmt) 62,528 119,969 12,368 26,900 14,884 27,045
Copper (%) 29.2 28.4 26.6 25.8 40.9 39.3
Silver (g/t) * * 572 565 125 118
Gold (g/t) * * - - 10.20 9.20
- Zinc concentrate (dmt) - - 1,959 3,767 - -
Zinc (%) - - 47.4 46.2 - -
- Molybdenum concentrate
(dmt) 93 105 - - - -
- Lead concentrate (dmt) - - 64 122 - -
Lead (%) - - 55.3 56.9 - -
Silver (g/t) - - 2,897 2,967 - -
Payable Copper Shipped
(tonnes) 16,694 33,442 3,236 7,416 2,620 9,676
(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 and gold have not been estimated in the
Pinto Valley resource model. Only recovered silver and payable gold is reported
for this mine.
Financial Results Timing
Capstone will report Q2 2016 financial results on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 after market close,
followed by a conference call and webcast for investors and
analysts on Wednesday, July 27, 2016
at 11:30 am Eastern Time
(8:30 am Pacific Time).
Conference Call and Webcast Details
Date: Wednesday, July 27, 2016
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://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1186432&s=1&k=A468B7DF9F7C38CB231D23E4E75DC74B
Replay: North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677
Replay Passcode: 301819#
The conference call replay will be available until Wednesday, August 3, 2016. The conference call
audio and transcript will be available on Capstone's website within
48 hours of the call at
http://capstonemining.com/investors/events-and-presentations/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
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 Kutcho copper-zinc
project in British Columbia,
Canada, as well as exploration properties in Chile and US. Capstone's strategy is to focus
on the optimization of operations and assets in politically stable,
mining-friendly regions, centred in the Americas. 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 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 our expectations or beliefs regarding
future events. Forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to, statements with respect to the estimation of mineral
resources and mineral reserves, the realization of mineral reserve
estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production,
costs of production and capital expenditures, the success of our
mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation
expenses and title disputes. In certain cases, forward-looking
statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans",
"expects", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts",
"intends", "anticipates", "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", "ensured" and "expected". By their
very nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual
results, performance or achievements to be materially different
from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or
implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include,
amongst others, risks related to inherent hazards associated with
mining operations, assumptions related to geotechnical condition of
tailings facilities, future prices of copper and other metals,
compliance with financial covenants, surety bonding, our ability to
raise capital, counterparty risks associated with sales of our
metals, use of financial derivative instruments and associated
counterparty risks, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations,
changes in general economic conditions, accuracy of mineral
resource and mineral reserve estimates, operating in foreign
jurisdictions with risk of changes to governmental regulation,
compliance with governmental regulations, compliance with
environmental laws and regulations, reliance on approvals, licences
and permits from governmental authorities, impact of climatic
conditions on our Pinto Valley, Cozamin and Minto operations, aboriginal title claims and
rights to consultation and accommodation, land reclamation and mine
closure obligations, uncertainties and risks related to the
potential development of the Santo Domingo Project, increased
operating and capital costs, challenges to title to our mineral
properties, dependence on key management personnel, potential
conflicts of interest involving our directors and officers,
corruption and bribery, limitations inherent in our insurance
coverage, labour relations, increasing energy prices, competition
in the mining industry, risks associated with joint venture
partners, our ability to integrate new acquisitions into our
operations, cybersecurity threats 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 under the Company's profile on SEDAR at
http://www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to
identify important factors that could cause our actual results,
performance or achievements to differ materially from those
described in our forward-looking statements, there may be other
factors that cause our results, performance or achievements not to
be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance
that our forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as
our actual results, performance or achievements could differ
materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly,
readers should not place undue reliance on our 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 Gregg Bush, P. Eng., Capstone Senior Vice
President and Chief Operating Officer, a Qualified Person under NI
43-101.
Cindy Burnett, VP, Investor
Relations and Communications, 604-637-8157,
cburnett@capstonemining.com