VANCOUVER, British Columbia,
July 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone")
(TSX: CS) today announced production results for the three and six
months ended June 30, 2018. Combined
production totalled 20,000 and 39,200 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 and YTD 2018 Copper Production (tonnes)
Q1 Q2 YTD 2018
Pinto Valley 11,400 13,400 24,800
Cozamin 4,300 3,500 7,800
Total copper production from
continuing operations [(1)] 15,700 16,900 32,600
Minto 3,500 3,100 6,600
Total copper production [(1)] 19,200 20,000 39,200
Total production includes copper in
(1) concentrate and cathode production.
"Copper production in the second quarter from Pinto Valley and
Cozamin was within our guided range," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "An
optimization review at Pinto Valley is underway, with a number of
opportunities identified that are expected to have a positive
impact on production going forward."
"The Minto sale to Pembridge
Resources Plc is expected to close later this month," continued Mr.
Pylot.
Operational Summary
- At Pinto Valley, production increased compared with the first
quarter as result of higher than planned grade and improved
recoveries. Production remains within the guided range at the mid
point of the year, with the mine plan calling for rising grade in
the second half of the year versus the first half.
- At Cozamin, copper production for the quarter was as planned.
Zinc production increased from the prior quarter as processing of
zinc development ore began to ramp up from the San Rafael zinc
zone.
- At Minto, production for the
quarter was lower than planned as a number of modifications to the
mine plan were made. The transaction for the sale of Minto to Pembridge Resources is expected to be
completed within the next few weeks.
Q2 and YTD 2018 Operating Details
Pinto Valley Cozamin Minto
Q2 YTD 2018 Q2 YTD 2018 Q2 YTD 2018
Contained Production [(1)]
- Copper (tonnes) 13,420 24,841 3,519 7,805 3,090 6,621
- Zinc (tonnes) - - 1,548 2,342 - -
- Molybdenum (tonnes) 19 48 - - - -
- Lead (tonnes) - - 308 329 - -
- Silver (ounces) [(2)] 76,920 147,355 252,922 503,097 29,583 64,987
- Gold (ounces) [(2) (3)] 401 575 - - 2,605 5,059
Payable Copper Production
[(1) ](tonnes)
(in concentrate and cathode) 12,963 24,000 3,373 7,488 2,990 6,406
Mine
- Ore (tonnes) - open pit 4,562,092 9,627,796 - - 72,402 546,951
- Waste (tonnes) 6,815,118 13,604,255 - - 1,991 1,314,504
- Ore (tonnes) - underground - - 227,643 442,585 79,588 170,509
Mill
- Tonnes processed 4,627,904 9,462,338 224,216 437,127 288,432 655,011
- Tonnes processed per day 50,856 52,278 2,464 2,415 3,170 3,619
- Copper grade (%) [(4)] 0.33 0.30 1.66 1.87 1.23 1.19
- Zinc grade (%) - - 1.04 0.84 - -
- Molybdenum grade (%) 0.006 0.006 - - - -
- Lead grade (%) - - 0.29 0.18 - -
- Silver grade (g/t) * * 45.28 45.11 4.2 4.1
- Gold grade (g/t) * * - - 0.38 0.36
Recoveries
- Copper (%) 86.2 [(4)] 84.8 [(4)] 94.61 95.51 86.8 84.7
- Zinc (%) - - 66.44 64.01 - -
- Lead (%) - - 48.10 40.69 - -
- Silver (%) * * 77.49 79.36 76.4 75.7
- Gold (%) * * - - 63.8 59.2
Concentrates
- Copper concentrate (dmt) 47,881 91,728 13,581 29,391 8,152 17,142
Copper (%) 27.3 26.2 25.91 26.55 37.9 38.6
Silver (g/t) * * 517 501 113 118
Gold (g/t) * * - - 8.6 8.2
- Zinc concentrate (dmt) - - 3,259 4,926 - -
Zinc (%) - - 47.48 47.55 - -
- Molybdenum concentrate
(dmt) 38 96 - - - -
- Lead concentrate (dmt) - - 494 532 - -
Lead (%) - - 62.32 61.75 - -
Silver (g/t) - - 1,717 1,745 - -
Payable Copper Shipped
(tonnes) 11,190 23,321 3,194 7,025 - 3,984
(1) Adjustments based on final settlements will be made in future periods. (2) Silver
and gold at Pinto Valley and gold at Minto are not assayed on site, resulting in a
significant lag time in receiving this data. As such, these figures are estimates and
for Minto includes gold contained in copper concentrate and gold contained in gold
concentrate produced. (3) Pinto Valley gold production reaches payable levels from
time to time. Any payable gold production will be reported in the period revenue is
received. (4) Grade and recoveries were estimated based on concentrate production and
may be impacted by settlements from prior production periods. *Silver and gold have
not been estimated in the Pinto Valley resource model. Only recovered silver and
payable gold is reported for this mine.
Operating Outlook
Capstone's 2018 copper production guidance for Pinto Valley and
Cozamin remains unchanged at (tonnes +/-5%) 56,000 and 15,000,
respectively. Capstone has entered into a definitive agreement for
the sale of the Minto mine, with
the transaction expected to close in July
2018.
Financial Results Timing
Capstone will report Q2 2018 financial results on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 after market close,
followed by a conference call and webcast for investors and
analysts on Wednesday, August 1, 2018
at 11:30 am Eastern Time
(8:30 am Pacific Time).
Conference Call and Webcast Details
Date: Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Time: 11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time)
Dial in: North America: 1-888-390-0546, International: +416-764-8688
Webcast: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1679032/50134473A997CEF460B4AB58062FF714
Replay: North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677
Replay
Passcode: 519478#
The conference call replay will be available until Wednesday, August 8, 2018. 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
polymetallic mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico and the Minto copper mine in Yukon, Canada. In addition, Capstone has the
large scale 70% owned copper-iron Santo
Domingo development project in Region III, Chile, in partnership with Korea Resources
Corporation as well as a portfolio of exploration properties.
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 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", "expected", "potentially", "guidance" 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", "planned",
"expected" and "expectations". 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
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
Unless otherwise indicated, Capstone has prepared the technical
information in this news release ("Technical Information") based on
information contained in the technical reports, news releases and
MD&A's (collectively the "Disclosure Documents") available
under Capstone Mining Corp.'s company profile on SEDAR
at www.sedar.com. Each Disclosure Document 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"). Readers are encouraged to review the
full text of the Disclosure Documents which qualifies the Technical
Information. Readers are advised that mineral resources that are
not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
The Disclosure Documents are each intended to be read as a whole,
and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context. The
Technical Information is subject to the assumptions and
qualifications contained in the Disclosure Documents.
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