Capstone Second Quarter Production Results
By Capstone Mining Corp., PRNETuesday, July 5, 2011
VANCOUVER, July 6, 2011 -
Second Quarter
Production of 21.2 million pounds of Copper in Concentrates
Capstone Mining Corp. (TSX: CS) today announced its operating
results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2011 from its
two operating mines, Cozamin and Minto. Combined production
totalled 21.2 and 37.9 million pounds of copper in concentrates in
the second quarter and first six months, respectively, with
additional by-products of lead, zinc, silver and gold.
“We are very pleased to report a 27% increase in production over
the first quarter of this year,” said Darren Pylot, President and
CEO of Capstone. “We achieved quarterly throughput records at
both Cozamin and Minto, and a quarterly copper production record at
Cozamin. With both mines now running on plan, we are on
target to meet our full year 2011 guidance of 80-85 million pounds
of copper in concentrates,” continued Mr. Pylot.
Q2 2011 Production
Q1 2011 Q2 2011 YTD 2011
Copper in concentrates
(millions of pounds)
- Cozamin 8.6 10.4 19.0
- Minto 8.1 10.8 18.9
Total 16.7 21.2 37.9
Operational
Highlights for the three and six months ended June 30, 2011
The following is a summary of operational highlights for
Capstone during the three and six months, respectively, ended June
30, 2011:
- Production of 21.2 and 37.9 million pounds of copper contained
in concentrates, respectively. - By-product production of 4.5 and 8.7 million pounds of zinc,
1.0 and 1.7 million pounds of lead and 479,690 and 847,396 ounces
of silver in concentrates, respectively. Final gold
production is not available since assaying is done off site, but is
estimated at 6,842 and 9,437 ounces for the respective
periods. - At Cozamin, remediation activities in the mine were completed
in March, allowing production from the Avoca and 11E stopes to
proceed at planned levels. This contributed to higher mined
and processed tonnages for the second quarter relative to the first
quarter. - At Minto, production exceeded expectations due to the
successful implementation of pre-crushing for the SAG mill feed.- The implementation of contract pre-crushing starting in
mid-April allowed mill throughput to exceed expectations. May
mill throughput set a monthly record of 115,913 tonnes, or 3,739
tonnes/day, and June throughput has continued above plan. - Mill grades were higher than planned in the second quarter due
to the delayed entry into the final stage of the Main Pit (Stage
5). Mining of Stage 5, originally planned for the first
quarter, was completed in late-April with ore production slightly
exceeding expectations. As a result, less lower grade
stockpile material was processed in the second quarter. - Higher mill throughput and grade was partially offset by
reduced mill recovery. The reduced recovery is partly due to
higher throughput and attendant reduced retention time in the
floatation circuit. However, issues with the efficiency of
the scavenger flotation circuit have been identified and are being
corrected, with measurable improvement seen by late-June.
- The implementation of contract pre-crushing starting in
- Minto received the amended Quartz Mining License in April and
Area 2 pre-stripping and development of the underground portal is
proceeding.
Q2 Operating
Details
Cozamin Minto
Q2 YTD Q2 YTD
2011 2011 2011 2011
Production [(1)]
(contained in concentrates)
- Copper (000s pounds) 10,398 19,007 10,807 18,871
- Lead (000s pounds) 987 1,745 - -
- Zinc (000s pounds) 4,523 8,698 - -
- Silver (ounces) 413,579 739,061 66,111 108,335
- Gold (ounces) - - 6,512 9,437
Mine
- Tonnes of ore mined 284,063 510,194 287,011 580,470
Mill
- Tonnes processed 271,387 497,442 320,144 578,301
- Tonnes processed per day 2,982 2,748 3,518 3,195
- Copper grade (%) 1.87 1.87 1.73 1.64
- Lead grade (%) 0.26 0.24 - -
- Zinc grade (%) 1.12 1.15 - -
- Silver grade (g/t) 65.3 63.9 8.4 7.4
- Gold grade (g/t) - - 0.83 0.68
Recoveries
- Copper (%) 92.9 92.7 88.5 90.1
- Lead (%) 64.3 65.0 - -
- Zinc (%) 67.7 68.7 - -
- Silver (%) 72.6 72.3 76.9 78.5
- Gold grade (%) - - 80.3 75.1
Concentrates [(1)]
- Copper concentrates (dmt) 17,839 32,510 13,580 23,342
- Copper (%) 26.4 26.5 36.1 36.7
- Silver (g/t) 636 620 151 144
- Gold (g/t) - - 15.7 12.6
- Lead concentrates(dmt) 712 1,245 - -
- Lead (%) 62.9 63.6 - -
- Silver (g/t) 2,157 2,285 - -
- Zinc concentrates (dmt) 4,157 8,101 - -
- Zinc (%) 49.3 48.7 - -
(1) Adjustments based on final
settlements will be made in future periods.
Outlook
Based on the significantly improved operating results in the
second quarter, Capstone reaffirms full year 2011 guidance of 80-85
million pounds of copper in concentrates. Cozamin production
is expected to continue to stabilize at higher levels as additional
stopes are placed into production to provide for increased
flexibility in mine planning. At Minto, contract pre-crushing
will continue until permanent improvements are implemented later in
the year. It is expected that this will allow Minto to
maintain the increased throughput for the remainder of the year
rather than the gradual ramp-up in tonnage previously expected with
the completion of the crushing circuit modifications planned for
the fourth quarter.
Q2 Financial
Results Timing
Capstone will report 2011 second quarter financial results on
Monday, August 15, 2011 after market close, followed by a
conference call for investors and analysts on Tuesday, August 16,
2011 at 11:30 am Eastern time (8:30 am Pacific time).
Conference Call
and Webcast Details
Date: Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Time: 11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time)
Dial in: North America — 1.888.231.8191, International –
1.647.427.7450
Webcast:
www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/viewEvent.cgi?eventID=3595240
Replay: North America — 1.800.642.1687, International –
1.416.849.0833
Replay Passcode: 81625702
The conference call replay will be available until August 25,
2011. A transcript of the call will also be made available on
Capstone’s website (
within 24 hours of the call.
About Capstone
Mining Corp.
Capstone Mining Corp. is a TSX listed
Canadian mining company with two producing copper mines in the
Americas: the Cozamin copper-silver-zinc-lead mine located in
Zacatecas State, Mexico and the Minto copper-gold-silver mine in
Yukon, Canada.
Using its operations as a springboard, Capstone aims to grow
organically and through acquisitions in politically stable,
mining-friendly jurisdictions, with a focus in the Americas:
organic growth through continued mineral resource and reserve
expansions as well as expanding operations at its operating mines,
development of its large 70% owned Santo Domingo copper-iron-gold
project in Chile in partnership with Korea Resources Corporation,
development of its Kutcho copper-zinc-gold-silver project in
British Columbia and exploration at properties in Chile, British
Columbia and Australia. Capstone’s cash flow and strong balance
sheet provide the platform to enhance that growth profile. Capstone
is included in the S&P/TSX Composite Index and S&P/TSX
Global Mining Index. Additional information is available at
.
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 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”, “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. 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, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry;
delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the
completion of development or construction activities; 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
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.
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 and news releases
(collectively the “Disclosure Documents”) available under Capstone
Mining Corp.’s company profile on SEDAR at
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.
John Sagman, P. Eng., Capstone’s Vice President, Technical
Services, a Qualified Person, reviewed all Technical Information
contained in this news release. In addition, Gregg Bush, Senior
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Capstone, reviewed
all Technical Information in this news release.
For further information:
Capstone Mining Corp.
Cindy Burnett, VP, Investor Relations
Telephone: +1-604-637-8157
Email:
Website:
.
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