Capstone adds 101 Million Pounds of Copper in Indicated Mineral Resource and 86 Million Pounds in Inferred Mineral Resource at Minto

VANCOUVER, Oct. 25, 2012 /CNW/ - Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone") (TSX: CS) today announced the results of the first National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant mineral resource estimate for two new areas at its Minto Mine in Yukon, Canada.

A US$4.9 million, 29,500 metre, 2012 exploration program completed this spring at the Fireweed area discovered in 2011, and Inferno North area discovered in 2012, contributed to a resource estimate of 101 million pounds of copper in the indicated category and 86 million pounds in the inferred category, at a 1.2% copper cut-off grade.

"We are pleased to report another successful drill season at Minto," said Brad Mercer, Capstone's Vice President of Exploration. "The additional 2.2 million tonnes of Indicated resource at 2.14% copper at Fireweed, an extension of the Minto East deposit, ranks amongst the highest grade mineralization on the property. It is a good location to find new resources, as the Minto East deposit already has a mineral reserve and is slated for underground mining in 2015. This Indicated resource at Fireweed will be targeted by mine engineering for potential conversion to mineral reserves in 2013. Both Fireweed and Inferno North remain excellent exploration targets with potential to step out, as well as infill in the future."

Mineral Resource Estimate by Class for the Fireweed Extension of the Minto East Deposit, at a 1.2% copper cut-off grade ("Cu COG")

	Tonnes (000's)*	Copper (%)	Gold (g/t)	Silver (g/t)	Contained Cu (000's lbs)*	Contained Gold (000's oz)*	Contained Silver (000's oz)*
Indicated (I)	2,152	2.14	1.01	8.9	101,528	69.7	618.7
Inferred	1,506	1.64	0.66	5.4	54,536	31.9	262.5

*Rounded to nearest thousand; totals may not sum exactly due to rounding.

Mineral Resource Estimate by Class for the Inferno North Extension of the Minto North Deposit, at a 1.2% Cu COG

	Tonnes (000's)*	Copper (%)	Gold (g/t)	Silver (g/t)	Contained Cu (000's lbs)*	Contained Gold (000's oz)*	Contained Silver (000's oz)*
Inferred	688	2.06	0.82	6.5	31,277	18.1	143.9

*Rounded to nearest thousand; totals may not sum exactly due to rounding.

Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral resource estimates do not account for mineability, selectivity, mining loss and dilution. These mineral resource estimates include inferred mineral resources that are normally considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is also no certainty that these inferred mineral resources will be converted to measured and indicated categories through further drilling, or into mineral reserves, once economic considerations are applied.

Mineral Resource Estimate Methodology

The mineral resource estimate for the Fireweed and Inferno North Deposits reported herein were prepared by Garth Kirkham, P.Geo. of Kirkham Geosystems Ltd., Burnaby, BC. The estimates were completed in MineSight^TM using a three dimensional block modelling (10 metres by 10 metres by 3 metres (vertical) block size). The mineralization was interpreted into six distinct domains for Fireweed and one domain for Inferno North, modelled as wireframes and used as hard boundaries to constrain estimation. Geostatistical analysis was completed on the 1.5 metre composite assay data for each of the metals, and variograms were defined for each domain of mineralization. The grades for copper, gold and silver were interpolated into the block model using inverse distance to the second power. Interpolated results are reported in indicated and inferred categories and are based on continuity of the mineralization and sample density. The 1.2% base case cut-off grade was chosen for reporting due to the fact that this is the cut-off grade current being utilized for the underground reserves at the Minto site. It is anticipated that the Fireweed and Inferno North would potentially be mined using underground methods.

About Capstone Mining Corp.

Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company with two producing copper mines, the Cozamin copper-silver-zinc-lead mine located in Zacatecas State, Mexico and the Minto copper-gold-silver mine in Yukon, Canada. In addition, Capstone has two development projects, the large scale 70% owned Santo Domingo copper-iron-gold project in Chile in partnership with Korea Resources Corporation and the 100% owned Kutcho copper-zinc-gold-silver project in British Columbia, as well as exploration at properties in Australia, Canada, Chile and Mexico. Using its cash flow and strong balance sheet as a springboard, Capstone aims to grow organically through continued mineral resource and reserve expansions and through acquisitions in politically stable, mining-friendly regions. Additional information is available at www.capstonemining.com.

Quality Assurance

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101") and supervised and reviewed by Brad Mercer, P. Geol., Vice President, Exploration for Capstone a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and the person who oversees exploration activities on the Minto Mine property. In addition, Gregg Bush, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Capstone, reviewed and approved this news release.

The mineral resource estimate reported herein for the Fireweed and Inferno North Deposits were estimated Garth Kirkham, P.Geo. of Kirkham Geosystems Ltd.  Mr. Kirkham is the Independent Qualified Person under NI 43-101 responsible for the mineral resource estimate and has reviewed the information in this release in respect of the mineral resource estimate. The database used to estimate the Fireweed and Inferno North deposits was inspected and verified by the author. The author is of the opinion that the current drilling information is sufficiently reliable to support estimating mineral resources. The mineral resources presented herein have been estimated in conformity with generally accepted CIM "Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves Best Practices" guidelines and are reported in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. In the opinion of Kirkham Geosystems Ltd., the block model resource estimate and resource classification reported herein are a reasonable representation of the mineral resources at the Fireweed and Inferno North deposits at the current level of sampling.

With respect to the mineral resource estimates, the analytical method for the copper and silver analyses is aqua regia digestion of the samples followed by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Gold is analysed by fire assay fusion with atomic absorption spectroscopy finish.  Analyses are carried out by ALS Chemex in North Vancouver. When visible gold is noted in drill core samples or regular fire assay values appear abnormally high, screen metallic assay method is used to determine the total gold content and gold content of different size fractions. This is considered industry best practice when dealing with coarse gold mineralization where a nugget effect is suspected. This determination is accepted as the most representative value and is used in the assay database for resource calculations. Blank and standard samples are used for quality assurance and quality control. Where more than two check samples assay outside expected ranges, the entire batch is re-assayed. After the completion of planned drill programs, random check assays will be carried out by Inspectorate-IPL of Vancouver.

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", "outlook", "potential", "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. In this document certain forward-looking statements are identified by words including "scheduled", "guidance", "plan", "planned", "estimated", "projections", "projected" and "expected". 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, dependence on key personnel, labour pool constraints, labour disputes; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities; 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 on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the 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.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors

This press release contains disclosure that has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of Canadian securities laws, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Without limiting the foregoing, this press release uses the terms "indicated" and "inferred" resources. U.S. investors are cautioned that, while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian securities laws, the SEC does not recognize them. Under U.S. standards, mineralization may not be classified as a "reserve" unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of indicated resources will ever be converted into reserves. U.S. investors should also understand that "inferred resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and as to whether they can be mined legally or economically. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of "inferred resources" will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Therefore, U.S. investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of inferred resources exist, or that they can be mined legally or economically. Accordingly, information concerning descriptions of mineralization and resources contained in this press release may not be comparable to information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of the SEC.

 

 

SOURCE: Capstone Mining Corp.

Cindy Burnett, VP, Investor Relations and Communications
604-637-8157
[email protected]