Mr. Darren Pylot reports

CAPSTONE MINING FIRST QUARTER 2016 FINANCIAL RESULTS

Capstone Mining Corp. has released its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2016. (All amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise specified.) Operating cash flow before changes in working capital (1) was $18.9-million or five cents per share, with a net loss of $12.8-million and an adjusted net loss of $1.5-million after adjusting for certain non-cash and non-recurring charges. Copper production for the quarter totalled 24,500 tonnes (23,700 tonnes of payable copper) at a C1 cash cost (1) of $1.72 per payable pound produced with copper sales for the quarter of 28,000 tonnes at a C1 cash cost (1) of $1.77 per payable pound sold.

Capstone will hold a conference call and webcast on April 27, 2016, at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time (8:30 a.m. Pacific Time) to discuss these results. Call-in details and information on associated slides are provided at the end of this release. This release should be read in conjunction with Capstone's consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, which are available on Capstone's website and on SEDAR. An updated corporate presentation, including results to March 31, 2016, in addition to the first quarter 2016 webcast slides, will also be available at the company's website.

                                               OVERVIEW  
                                                                                  Q1 2016          Q1 2015

Revenue ($ millions)                                                               $126.2           $102.9
Copper produced (tonnes)                                                           24,547           23,677
Payable copper produced (tonnes)                                                   23,694           22,853
C1 cash cost per payable pound produced (1) ($)                                      1.72             1.97
All-in sustaining cost per payable pound produced (1) ($/lb)                         2.21             2.40
All-in cost per payable pound produced (1) ($/lb)                                    2.23             3.00
Fully loaded all-in cost per payable pound produced (1) ($/lb)                       2.36             3.09
Copper sold (tonnes)                                                               27,985           20,082
Realized copper price per pound sold ($/lb)*                                         2.19             2.47
Adjusted realized copper price per pound sold ($/lb)**                               2.35             2.47
C1 cash cost per payable pound sold (1) ($/lb)                                       1.77             1.89
All-in sustaining cost per payable pound sold (1) ($/lb)                             2.21             2.36
All-in cost per payable pound sold (1) ($/lb)                                        2.22             3.05
Fully loaded all-in cost per payable pound sold (1) ($/lb)                           2.33             3.15
Net (loss) ($ millions)                                                             (12.8)           (17.4)
Net (loss) per common share ($)                                                     (0.03)           (0.04)
Adjusted net (loss) income (1) ($ millions)                                          (1.5)            (8.9)
Adjusted net (loss) income per common share ($)                                     (0.00)           (0.02)
Adjusted EBITDA (1) ($ millions)                                                     39.3             24.3
Adjusted EBITDA (1) per common share ($)                                             0.10             0.06
Operating cash flow before changes in working capital (1) ($ millions)               18.9             16.5
Operating cash flow before changes in working capital per
common share (1) ($)                                                                 0.05             0.04

* First quarter 2016 includes a negative provisional pricing adjustment of $5.6-million (2015: negative
$12.7-million) related to prior shipments, equivalent to (nine cents) per pound (2015: (29 cents) per 
pound) of copper sold during the quarter.
** Adjusted realized copper price includes the realized gain of $9.6-million related to the put contracts 
the company exercised in first quarter 2016 (2015: nil).
(1) This is an alternative performance measure.

"In the first quarter of 2016, our operating cash flow was $32.2-million. Our cash balance increased $20-million to $121.1-million, reducing our net debt to $228.2-million and our senior secured leverage ratio to 2.1 at quarter-end, down from 2.6 at the end of 2015," said Darren Pylot, president and chief executive officer of Capstone. "Our continued focus on mine site cost-efficiencies and optimization were demonstrated in the first quarter with Pinto Valley posting the second straight quarter of new daily, monthly and quarterly throughput records and exceeding targeted throughput for the quarter.

"We took action in the quarter given recent commodity price volatility to preserve our financial flexibility and protect our covenant compliance for 2016," continued Mr. Pylot. "Through a combination of price fixing and hedging, we have ensured covenant compliance at copper prices above approximately $1.65 per pound for the remainder of 2016, with substantially lower costs expected as we reach the higher-grade portion of Minto North."

Financial highlights for the quarter ended March 31, 2016:

• Net loss of $12.8-million or three cents per common share, which included:
  • Earnings from mining operations of $2.1-million;
  • Production costs included a $1.5-million non-cash charge related to the writedown of inventory at Minto and Pinto Valley;
  • A gain on commodity derivatives of $3.2-million, comprising $1.5-million on the January and February $2.60 copper puts and $1.7-million on new copper forward contracts;
  • $2.9-million in current and deferred tax expense.
• Working capital increased marginally to $163.4-million at March 31, 2016, from $162.4-million at Dec. 31, 2015. More impactful was the increase of $19.5-million in cash and cash equivalents (a component of working capital) to $121.1-million, driven by proceeds of $14.0-million on the $2.60 copper put contracts combined with the reduction of finished goods inventory balances.

Production and additional highlights for the quarter ended March 31, 2016

Pinto Valley mine:

• Produced 16,365 tonnes of copper in concentrates and cathode during first quarter 2016 at a C1 cash cost (1) of $1.64 per pound of payable copper produced;
• During first quarter 2016, the mine achieved daily, monthly and quarterly throughput records of 62,400, 56,700 and 55,000 tonnes per day, respectively.

Cozamin mine:

• Produced 3,660 tonnes of copper in concentrates during first quarter 2016 at a C1 cash cost (1) of $1.50 per pound of payable copper produced.

Minto mine:

• Produced 4,522 tonnes of copper in concentrates during first quarter 2016 at a C1 cash cost (1) of $2.19 per pound of payable copper produced, which included five cents per pound of cost allocated from stockpile that were spent in prior periods, bringing the actual cash expended during first quarter 2016 to $2.14 per pound of payable copper produced.

Santo Domingo:

• On March 10, 2016, the Maritime concession for the port location was granted to Minera Santo Domingo.

Operating outlook

Capstone's 2016 production guidance for 108,000 tonnes (plus or minus 5 per cent) of copper with C1 cash cost (1) of $1.45 to $1.55 per pound, and fully loaded all-in cost (1) of $2.05 to $2.15 per pound of payable copper produced, net of byproduct credits and selling costs, remains unchanged.

Conference call details:

Date:  April 27, 2016

Time:  11:30 a.m. Eastern Time (8:30 a.m. Pacific Time)

Dial-in in North America:  1-888-390-0546

Dial-in international:  416-764-8688

Replay in North America:  1-888-390-0541

Replay international:  416-764-8677

Replay passcode:  982010 followed by the number sign

The conference call replay will be available until May 11, 2016. The conference call audio and transcript will be available on Capstone's website within approximately 24 hours of the call.

National Instrument 43-101 compliance

Unless otherwise indicated, Capstone has prepared the technical information in this news release based on information contained in the technical reports, news releases, and management's discussion and analysis available under Capstone Mining's company profile on SEDAR. Each disclosure document was prepared by, or under the supervision of, a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 (standards of disclosure for mineral projects) of the Canadian Securities Administrators. Readers are encouraged to review the full text of the disclosure documents, which qualify 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 was prepared by, or under the supervision of, a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 (standards of disclosure for mineral projects) of the Canadian Securities Administrators. The disclosure of the technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gregg Bush, PEng, senior vice-president and chief operating officer. Technical information related to mineral exploration activities has been reviewed and approved by Brad Mercer, PGeol, senior vice-president, exploration. Both are qualified persons under NI 43-101.

We seek Safe Harbor.