Mr. Darren Pylot reports
CAPSTONE MINING 2018 THIRD QUARTER PRODUCTION RESULTS
Capstone Mining Corp. has released production results for the three and nine months ended Sept. 30, 2018. Combined production totalled 21,400 and 60,600 tonnes of copper in the third quarter and year-to-date periods, respectively, with additional byproducts of zinc, molybdenum, lead, silver and gold.
Q3 AND YTD 2018 COPPER PRODUCTION (TONNES)
Q1 Q2 Q3 YTD 2018
Pinto Valley 11,400 13,400 14,200 39,000
Cozamin 4,300 3,500 4,400 12,200
Total copper production from continuing operations (1) 15,700 16,900 18,600 51,200
Minto 3,500 3,100 2,800 9,400
Total copper production (1) 19,200 20,000 21,400 60,600
(1) Total production includes copper in concentrate and cathode production.
"Pinto Valley performed as expected in the third quarter, with planned higher grade feeding the mill as scheduled," said Darren Pylot, president and chief executive officer of Capstone. "Cozamin's copper production was higher than projected and zinc production rose considerably. We remain on track to meet our consolidated copper production guidance from continuing operations for the year."
Operational summary
At Pinto Valley, production increased in the third quarter on planned higher grade. Throughput rose from the second quarter due to more stable operations and steadily improving availability in the crushing and milling circuits, as the asset reliability project continues to advance.
At Cozamin, copper production for the quarter increased on higher grade and throughput. Mine output increased over the previous quarter as production from the San Rafael zinc zone ramped up to planned levels by mid-quarter, resulting in the highest quarterly zinc production in over five years.
At Minto, the revised mine plan produced 2,800 tonnes of copper for the third quarter. The asset continues to be classified as a discontinued operation held for sale.
Q3 AND YTD 2018 OPERATING DETAILS
Pinto Valley Cozamin Minto
Q3 YTD 2018 Q3 YTD 2018 Q3 YTD 2018
Contained production (1)
Copper (tonnes) 14,203 39,044 4,350 12,155 2,801 9,421
Zinc (tonnes) - - 2,046 4,388 - -
Molybdenum (tonnes) 16 64 - - - -
Lead (tonnes) - - 439 768 - -
Silver (ounces) (2) 82,268 229,623 321,487 824,584 24,426 89,413
Gold (ounces) (2) (3) - 547 (5) - - 2,594 7,812
Payable copper production (1) (tonnes)
(in concentrate and cathode) 13,717 37,717 4,170 11,658 2,710 9,115
Mine
Ore (tonnes) -- open pit 4,755,475 14,383,271 - - - 546,951
Waste (tonnes) 6,041,640 19,645,895 - - - 1,314,504
Ore (tonnes) -- underground - - 266,192 708,777 94,031 264,540
Mill
Tonnes processed 4,757,746 14,220,084 270,346 707,474 212,794 867,804
Tonnes processed per day 51,715 52,088 2,939 2,591 2,313 3,179
Copper grade (%) (4) 0.34 0.31 1.70 1.80 1.43 1.25
Zinc grade (%) - - 1.13 0.95 - -
Molybdenum grade (%) 0.008 0.006 - - - -
Lead grade (%) - - 0.32 0.24 - -
Silver grade (g/t) * * 48.73 46.49 4.53 4.19
Gold grade (g/t) * * - - 0.41 0.37
Recoveries
Copper (%) 84.8 (4) 84.8 (4) 94.7 95.2 92.3 86.8
Zinc (%) - - 67.1 65.4 - -
Lead (%) - - 51.3 46.1 - -
Silver (%) * * 75.9 78.0 78.7 76.5
Gold (%) * * - - 67.9 61.5
Concentrates
Copper concentrate (dmt) 51,206 142,934 16,775 46,166 7,621 24,764
Copper (%) 27.1 26.5 25.9 26.3 36.7 38.0
Silver (g/t) * * 516.1 506.3 99.7 112.3
Gold (g/t) * * - - 7.7 8.1
Zinc concentrate (dmt) - - 4,306 9,232 - -
Zinc (%) - - 47.5 47.5 - -
Molybdenum concentrate (dmt) 32 128 - - - -
Lead concentrate (dmt) - - 718 1,250 - -
Lead (%) - - 61.2 61.5 - -
Silver (g/t) - - 1,874 1,819 - -
Payable copper shipped (tonnes) 14,465 37,787 4,350 11,375 3,449 7,434
(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 these 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.
(5) YTD 2018 includes a negative-28-ounce adjustment made in Q3 2018 related to Q2 2018 gold sales for which
final settlement was made in Q3 2018.
Operating outlook
Capstone's 2018 consolidated copper production guidance for Pinto Valley and Cozamin remains unchanged at 71,000 tonnes (plus/minus 5 per cent).
Financial results timing
Capstone will report Q3 2018 financial results on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, after market close, followed by a conference call and webcast for investors and analysts on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018, at 11:30 a.m. ET (8:30 a.m. PT).
Conference call and webcast details:
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018
Time: 11:30 a.m. ET (8:30 a.m. PT)
Dial in: North America: 1-888-390-0546, international: 416-764-8688
Replay: North America: 1-888-390-0541, international: 416-764-8677
Replay passcode: 808789 followed by the pound key
The conference call replay will be available until Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018. The conference call audio and transcript will be available on Capstone's website within 48 hours of the call on the Capstone website.
About Capstone Mining Corp.
Capstone Mining is a Canadian base metals mining company, focused on copper. The company is committed to the responsible development of its assets and the environments in which it operates. Capstone's three producing mines are the Pinto Valley copper mine located in Arizona in the United States, the Cozamin polymetallic mine in Zacatecas state, Mexico, and the Minto copper mine in the Yukon, Canada. In addition, Capstone has the large-scale, 70-per-cent-owned copper-iron Santo Domingo development project in Region III, Chile, in partnership with Korea Resources Corp. as well as a portfolio of exploration properties.
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 MD&As available under Capstone'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 qualifying 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, Capstone senior vice-president and chief operating officer, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.
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