Capstone Mining 2015 Production Results

VANCOUVER, Jan. 13, 2016 /CNW/ - Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone") (TSX: CS) today announced production results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2015. Combined production totalled 26,000 and 92,900 tonnes of copper in the fourth quarter and full year 2015, respectively, with additional by-products of zinc, molybdenum, lead, silver and gold. 

2015 Copper Production (tonnes)

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	2015	2015 Guidance ^(1)
Pinto Valley	15,800	14,300	14,000	16,700	60,800	59,000
Cozamin	3,800	2,700	4,300	4,900	15,700	15,500
Minto	4,100	4,100	3,800	4,400	16,400	15,500
Total copper production ^(2)	23,700	21,100	22,100	26,000	92,900	90,000

Totals may not add due to rounding. (1) Total copper production guidance of 90,000 tonnes (+/- 5%) and Pinto Valley guidance reflects guidance provided on January 20, 2015. Production guidance at Minto was increased, offsetting reduced Cozamin guidance on September 9, 2015. (2) Total production includes copper in concentrate and cathode production.

"Capstone's 2015 copper production met guidance, with outperformance at Pinto Valley and Minto offsetting the production challenges at Cozamin that occurred early in the year," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "Pinto Valley had a very strong fourth quarter with record quarterly throughput of over 54,000 tonnes per day, demonstrating significant improvement and exceeding our expectations."

Fourth Quarter Operational Highlights

• Payable copper shipped for the quarter from all three mines was 22,300 tonnes.
• Pinto Valley had an exceptional quarter, posting daily, monthly and quarterly throughput records under Capstone's ownership of 60,500, 54,800 and 54,100 tonnes per day ("tpd"), respectively. Both grade and recovery were as planned for the quarter.
• At Cozamin, the average grade for the quarter of 1.75% copper offset slightly lower mining rates and mill throughput. The mine is continuing to work towards increasing developed stopes, but has largely overcome the issues leading to the production shortfall experienced early in the year.
• At Minto, a pocket of high grade underground ore in excess of 3% copper in close proximity to existing development was opportunistically mined and processed, resulting in higher grade for the quarter than planned. Stripping of the Minto North pit is proceeding well and the lower-grade ore was reached as expected in December.

Q4 2015 and Full Year Operating Details

		Pinto Valley		Cozamin				Minto
		Q4	2015	Q4			2015	Q4	2015
Contained Production ^(1)
- Copper (tonnes)		16,692	60,746	4,883			15,650	4,450	16,515
- Zinc (tonnes)		-	-	1,344			5,860	-	-
- Molybdenum (Mo tonnes)		- ^(2)	88.8	-			-	-	-
- Lead (tonnes)		-	-	104			684	-	-
- Silver (ounces)		94,908	292,149	399,834			1,286,774	52,849	170,493
- Gold (ounces) ^(3)		-	1,002	-			-	4,320	16,114
Payable Copper Production ^(1)(tonnes)   (in concentrate and cathode)		16,130	58,718	4,667			14,967	4,305	15,978
Mine
- Ore (tonnes) – open pit		5,846,016	23,139,132	-			-	212,632	383,414
- Waste (tonnes)		3,182,790	11,463,850	-			-	2,998,431	5,044,292
- Ore (tonnes) – underground		-	-	287,783			1,078,606	132,486	456,826
Mill
- Tonnes processed		4,978,317	17,730,407	295,524			1,079,778	342,982	1,387,958
- Tonnes processed per day		54,112	48,576	3,212			2,958	3,728	3,803
- Copper grade (%)		0.38^(4)	0.38^(4)	1.75			1.56	1.44	1.38
- Zinc grade (%)		-	-	0.73			0.84	-	-
- Molybdenum grade (%)		-	0.007	-			-	-	-
- Lead grade (%)		-	-	0.11			0.14	-	-
- Silver grade (g/t)		*	*	61			53	6	5
- Gold grade (g/t)		*	*	-			-	0.50	0.49
Recoveries
- Copper (%)		88.8^(4^)	87.4^(4)	94.2			93.0	90.2	86.2
- Zinc (%)		-	-	62.4			64.6	-	-
- Lead (%)		-	-	31.4			44.2	-	-
- Silver (%)		*	*	69.5			69.6	80.8	76.9
- Gold (%)		*	*	-			-	77.6	73.6
Concentrates
- Copper concentrate (dmt)		59,071	205,233	19,292			60,826	12,475	45,703
	Copper (%)	27.4	28.6	25.3			25.7	35.7	36.1
	Silver (g/t)	*	*	612			598	132	116
	Gold (g/t)	*	*	-			-	10.77	10.97
- Zinc concentrate (dmt)		-	-	2,908			12,453	-	-
	Zinc (%)	-	-	46.2			47.1	-	-
- Molybdenum concentrate (dmt)		-	184	-			-	-	-
- Lead concentrate (dmt)		-	-	193			1,166	-	-
	Lead (%)	-	-	53.6			58.6	-	-
	Silver (g/t)	-	-	3,257			3,112	-	-
Payable Copper Shipped (tonnes)		14,728	57,668	4,366			14,863	3,227	14,990

 

(1) Adjustments based on final settlements will be made in future periods. (2) The Pinto Valley molybdenum circuit did not operate in the fourth quarter as a result of below break-even molybdenum prices. (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. At Minto, final gold production is not available since assaying is conducted off-site, but is estimated above. (4) 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.

2016 Operating and Capital Guidance

Capstone expects to release 2016 operating and capital guidance during the week of January 18 – 22, 2016

Financial Results Timing

Capstone will report 2015 financial results on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 after market close, followed by a conference call and webcast for investors and analysts on Wednesday, February 17, 2016 at 11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time).

Conference Call and Webcast Details

Date:	Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Time:	11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time)
Dial in:	North America: 1-888-390-0546, International: [phone]
Webcast:	http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1094432&s=1&k=949A9A55D556086D2F443F4A7444D365
Replay:	North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: [phone]
Replay Passcode:	535944#

The conference call replay will be available until Wednesday, March 2, 2016. The conference call audio and transcript will be available on Capstone's website within approximately 24 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 copper-silver mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico and the Minto copper mine in Yukon, Canada. In addition, Capstone has two copper 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 copper-zinc Kutcho project in British Columbia, Canada, as well as exploration properties in Chile. Using our cash flow and strong balance sheet as a platform, Capstone's strategy is to extend the lives of our current mines with mineral resource and reserve expansions, maintain optionality on the Santo Domingo development project, prudently progress the exploration portfolio and grow through acquisitions in politically stable, mining-friendly regions. We will pace our growth with our financial capacity, ensuring we retain, as a priority, sufficient financial flexibility to meet the requirements of our existing operations and our committed development projects, while maintaining an adequate cushion to deal with market volatility and operating risks inherent in the mining industry. Our headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and we are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Further information is available at www.capstonemining.com.

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 conversion of mineral resources to mineral reserves, 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", "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. In this document certain forward-looking statements are identified by words including "guidance", "expectations", "planned", "estimated", "budgeted" and "schedule". 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 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; availability of infrastructure required for the development of mining projects; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities; counterparty risks associated with sales of our metals; changes in general economic conditions; increased operating and capital costs; operating in foreign jurisdictions with risk of changes to governmental regulation; impact of climatic conditions on our Pinto Valley, Cozamin and Minto operations; increasing energy prices; our ability to integrate new acquisitions into our operations, 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.

National Instrument 43-101 Compliance

The technical information in this news release ("Technical Information") 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"). The disclosure of the Technical Information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gregg Bush, P. Eng., Capstone Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.

SOURCE Capstone Mining Corp.

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