VANCOUVER, July 12, 2017 /CNW/ - Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone") (TSX: CS) today announced production results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2017. Combined production totalled 24,000 and 44,900 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 2017 Copper Production (tonnes)
| Q1 | Q2 | YTD 2017 | |
| Pinto Valley | 11,300 | 15,500 | 26,800 |
| Cozamin | 4,100 | 4,100 | 8,200 |
| Minto | 5,500 | 4,400 | 9,900 |
| Total copper production (1) | 20,900 | 24,000 | 44,900 |
| (1) Total production includes copper in concentrate and cathode production. | |||
"All three of our mines produced according to plan in the second quarter," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "Pinto Valley set new quarterly, monthly and daily throughput records after returning to full operations from the heavy rain and maintenance activities early in the year."
"Cozamin's copper production once again outperformed and Minto continued to execute a mine plan that advances the operation towards an extended mine life into 2020 and potentially beyond," continued Mr. Pylot.
Operational Highlights
- At Pinto Valley, throughput averaged 58,700 tonnes per day ("tpd") for the quarter, setting a quarterly throughput record as well as achieving a new monthly throughput record in May of 60,300 tpd. Grade, recoveries and production were as planned for the quarter.
- At Cozamin, grade and recoveries were as expected, with throughput continuing ahead of plan on ongoing improvement in mine production and mine development.
- At Minto, production for the quarter was impacted by mine sequencing changes to support a mine life extension. Throughput continued higher than planned, but head grade and recoveries were lower than planned due to a higher percentage of partially oxidized ore feeding the mill from the Area 2, Stage 3 open pit and underground mining running slightly behind schedule.
Q2 and YTD 2017 Operating Details
| Pinto Valley | Cozamin | Minto | |||||
| Q2 | YTD 2017 | Q2 | YTD 2017 | Q2 | YTD 2017 | ||
| Contained Production (1) | |||||||
| - Copper (tonnes) | 15,491 | 26,791 | 4,106 | 8,236 | 4,406 | 9,926 | |
| - Zinc (tonnes) | - | - | 786 | 2,044 | - | - | |
| - Molybdenum (Mo tonnes) | 7 | 7 | - | - | - | - | |
| - Lead (tonnes) | - | - | 18 | 37 | - | - | |
| - Silver (ounces) | 86,267 | 147,748 | 233,852 | 495,474 | 41,789 | 98,174 | |
| - Gold (ounces) (2) | 581 | 3,420 | - | - | 4,982 | 13,609 | |
| Payable Copper Production (1) (tonnes) (in concentrate and cathode) |
14,966 | 25,887 | 3,947 | 7,918 | 4,262 | 9,603 | |
| Mine | |||||||
| - Ore (tonnes) – open pit | 5,610,740 | 10,047,769 | - | - | 532,929 | 576,172 | |
| - Waste (tonnes) | 6,759,251 | 13,143,552 | - | - | 2,311,740 | 4,319,767 | |
| - Ore (tonnes) – underground | - | - | 231,421 | 468,223 | 91,844 | 159,926 | |
| Mill | |||||||
| - Tonnes processed | 5,338,662 | 9,515,745 | 230,799 | 465,022 | 378,874 | 747,195 | |
| - Tonnes processed per day | 58,667 | 52,573 | 2,536 | 2,569 | 4,163 | 4,128 | |
| - Copper grade (%) | 0.33 (3) | 0.32 (3) | 1.85 | 1.84 | 1.43 | 1.55 | |
| - Zinc grade (%) | - | - | 0.55 | 0.67 | - | - | |
| - Molybdenum grade (%) | 0.005 | 0.005 | - | - | - | - | |
| - Lead grade (%) | - | - | 0.07 | 0.07 | - | - | |
| - Silver grade (g/t) | * | * | 39.6 | 42.7 | 4.5 | 5.1 | |
| - Gold grade (g/t) | * | * | - | - | 0.59 | 1.04 | |
| Recoveries | |||||||
| - Copper (%) | 86.1 (3) | 85.1 (3) | 96.1 | 96.0 | 81.5 | 85.7 | |
| - Zinc (%) | - | - | 62.0 | 66.0 | - | - | |
| - Lead (%) | - | - | 11.4 | 11.8 | - | - | |
| - Silver (%) | * | * | 79.6 | 77.6 | 76.3 | 79.7 | |
| - Gold (%) | * | * | - | - | 69.5 | 54.4 | |
| Concentrates | |||||||
| - Copper concentrate (dmt) | 53,696 | 91,973 | 14,874 | 29,903 | 9,743 | 21,640 | |
| Copper (%) | 27.9 | 28.1 | 27.6 | 27.5 | 45.2 | 45.9 | |
| Silver (g/t) | * | * | 483 | 509 | 133 | 141 | |
| Gold (g/t) | * | * | - | - | 15.9 | 19.6 | |
| - Zinc concentrate (dmt) | - | - | 1,621 | 4,255 | - | - | |
| Zinc (%) | - | - | 48.5 | 48.0 | - | - | |
| - Molybdenum concentrate (dmt) | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| - Lead concentrate (dmt) | - | - | 29 | 59 | - | - | |
| Lead (%) | - | - | 58.9 | 61.7 | - | - | |
| Silver (g/t) | - | - | 2,904 | 3,216 | - | - | |
| Payable Copper Shipped (tonnes) | 12,539 | 24,942 | 3,774 | 7,838 | 4,458 | 9,573 | |
| (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. |
Operating Outlook
Capstone expects to be within the range of 2017 consolidated production guidance of 94,000 tonnes (±5%) of copper. Minto and Cozamin are expected to complete the year on, or above plan, largely offsetting Pinto Valley's first quarter deficit.
Financial Results Timing
Capstone will report Q2 2017 financial results on Monday, July 31, 2017 before market open, followed by a conference call and webcast for investors and analysts the same day at 11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time).
Conference Call and Webcast Details
| Date: | Monday, July 31, 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: | Click Here |
| Replay: | North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677 |
| Replay Passcode: | 103102# |
The conference call replay will be available until Monday, August 7, 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 polymetallic 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 www.capstonemining.com.
