VANCOUVER, British Columbia,
January 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone") (TSX: CS) today announced
production results for the three and twelve months ended
December 31, 2016. Combined
production totalled 29,900 and 114,600 tonnes of copper in the
fourth quarter and year-to-date periods, respectively, with
additional by-products of zinc, molybdenum, lead, silver and
gold.
2016 Copper Production (tonnes)
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 YTD 2016 2016 Guidance (2)
Pinto Valley 16,400 18,800 16,600 17,100 68,900 66,000
Cozamin 3,700 3,300 3,400 4,000 14,300 14,000
Minto 4,500 6,000 12,000 8,800 31,400 28,000
Total copper production (1) 24,600 28,100 32,000 29,900 114,600 108,000
Totals may not add due to rounding. (1) Total production includes copper in
concentrate and cathode production. (2) Total copper production guidance of
108,000 tonnes (+/- 5%) reflects guidance provided on January 18, 2016.
Production guidance at Pinto Valley and Minto was increased, offsetting reduced
Cozamin guidance on July 26, 2016.
"Capstone's 2016 consolidated copper production exceeded
guidance, driven primarily by outperformance at Pinto Valley and
Minto," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone.
"Record setting production at both these operations contributed to
a year of exceptional operating performance."
Operational Highlights
- Copper production at Pinto Valley exceeded expectations, with
throughput above plan for the quarter and year. Throughput averaged
56,800 tonnes per day ("tpd") and 56,200 tpd for the fourth quarter
and full year, respectively. The operation continued to demonstrate
the mine's potential, achieving a new daily throughput record of
over 64,000 tpd in December.
- At Cozamin, the average grade for the quarter of 1.63% copper
offset lower than planned mill throughput, with production ending
the year at the previously lowered guidance target. Development
rates continued to improve through the fourth quarter.
- At Minto, copper production
for the quarter met expectations while full year throughput, grade
and recoveries all exceeded plan. In the fourth quarter the mill
processed stockpiles, supplemented by underground mining, which
continued through the quarter.
Q4 and Full Year 2016 Operating Details
Pinto Valley Cozamin Minto
Q4 2016 Q4 2016 Q4 2016
Contained Production (1)
- Copper (tonnes) 17,051 68,850 4,001 14,307 8,801 31,426
- Zinc (tonnes) - - 1,100 4,193 - -
- Molybdenum (Mo tonnes) 6 83 - - - -
- Lead (tonnes) - - 37 130 - -
- Silver (ounces) 94,585 377,091 265,251 1,000,659 100,088 355,210
- Gold (ounces) (2) 761 1,944 - - 15,632 39,506
Payable Copper Production
(1) (tonnes)
(in concentrate and
cathode) 16,469 66,527 3,844 13,732 8,515 30,404
Mine
- Ore (tonnes) - open pit 6,191,498 23,435,302 - - - 1,505,651
- Waste (tonnes) 5,145,618 19,507,016 - - - 5,584,619
- Ore (tonnes) -
underground - - 258,315 995,911 69,229 245,674
Mill
- Tonnes processed 5,225,712 20,565,133 258,916 1,001,350 355,398 1,491,266
- Tonnes processed per day 56,801 56,189 2,814 2,736 3,863 4,074
- Copper grade (%) 0.37 (3) 0.37 (3) 1.63 1.51 2.64 2.21
- Zinc grade (%) - - 0.65 0.66 - -
- Molybdenum grade (%) 0.006 0.006 - - - -
- Lead grade (%) - - 0.06 0.07 - -
- Silver grade (g/t) * * 43 43 10 8
- Gold grade (g/t) * * - - 2.04 1.23
Recoveries
- Copper (%) 86.7 (3) 87.6 (3) 95.0 94.8 93.9 95.2
- Zinc (%) - - 65.6 63.0 - -
- Lead (%) - - 22.6 18.7 - -
- Silver (%) * * 74.6 72.4 92.0 87.8
- Gold (%) * * - - 67.1 67.0
Concentrates
- Copper concentrate (dmt) 58,869 234,702 14,711 53,744 18,225 70,349
Copper (%) 28.2 28.5 27.2 26.6 48.3 44.7
Silver (g/t) * * 547 566 171 157
Gold (g/t) * * - - 26.68 17.47
- Zinc concentrate (dmt) - - 2,335 8,866 - -
Zinc (%) - - 47.1 47.3 - -
- Molybdenum concentrate
(dmt) 12 174 - - - -
- Lead concentrate (dmt) - - 59 222 - -
Lead (%) - - 62.2 58.4 - -
Silver (g/t) - - 3,445 3,155 - -
Payable Copper Shipped
(tonnes) 16,540 67,003 3,283 13,966 9,735 29,481
(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.
2017 Operating and Capital Guidance
Capstone expects to provide 2017 operating and capital guidance
during the week of January 16,
2017.
Financial Results Timing
Capstone will report 2016 financial results on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 after market close,
followed by a conference call and webcast for investors and
analysts on Thursday, February 16,
2017 at 11:30 am Eastern Time
(8:30 am Pacific Time).
Conference Call and Webcast Details
Date: Thursday, February 16, 2017
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=1323771&s=1&k=AFC597F521C716D97270B033FC966280
Replay: North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677
Replay
Passcode: 063291#
The conference call replay will be available until Thursday, February 23, 2017. 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" and "expects". 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.
Please Contact:
Cindy Burnett
VP, Investor Relations and Communications
604-637-8157
cburnett@capstonemining.com