Capstone Mining 2014 Production Results

VANCOUVER, Jan. 13, 2015 /CNW/ – Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone") (TSX: CS) today announced operating results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2014 for its three operating mines: Pinto Valley, Cozamin and Minto. Combined production totalled 23,100 and 103,300 tonnes of copper (in concentrates and cathode) in the fourth quarter and full year 2014, respectively, with additional by-products of zinc, molybdenum, lead, silver and gold.

2014 Production (tonnes)


		Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	2014	2014
		Production					Guidance⁽¹⁾
Pinto Valley
	Copper in concentrates	16,300⁽²⁾	16,500⁽²⁾	15,300⁽²⁾	14,600	62,700	63,500
	Copper cathode	600	500	700	600	2,400	2,800
	Pinto Valley Total	16,900	17,000	16,000	15,200	65,100	66,300
Cozamin
	Copper in concentrates	5,100	5,200	4,900	4,600	19,800	20,000
Minto
	Copper in concentrates	5,200	5,100	4,800	3,300	18,400	18,500
Total copper production⁽³⁾		27,200	27,300	25,700	23,100	103,300	104,800

Totals may not add due to rounding. (1) 2014 guidance +/- 5%. (2) Pinto Valley quarterly production has been adjusted to reflect reconciliations from smelter to mine that lagged in the first part of the year. Adjustments will be done on a monthly basis going forward. (3) Total production includes copper in concentrate and cathode production.

"All three of our operating mines were within the range of their production guidance for 2014, and exited the year running at, or very close to, plan," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "Our primary focus continues to be on reducing costs and increasing mill reliability at our Pinto Valley operation and a review of maintenance operating systems is continuing."

Fourth Quarter Operational Highlights

Payable copper shipped for the quarter from all three mines was 23,751 tonnes.
At Pinto Valley, throughput was 4% lower than planned for the quarter and grade was slightly lower than planned.
At Cozamin, throughput remained strong, however grade was lower than planned. Ongoing ground support remediation activities delayed access to some of the higher grade areas of the mine.
At Minto, the mine plan called for a lower fourth quarter as processing transitioned primarily to stockpiled ore, supplemented with underground material from the M-Zone through November and Area 118 underground where mining commenced in December. The mill will continue to process underground and stockpiled ore, with surface mining on hold until receipt of the required permits, expected in March.

Q4 2014 Operating Details


		Pinto Valley		Cozamin		Minto
		Q4	2014	Q4	2014	Q4	2014
Contained Copper Production⁽¹⁾(contained in concentrates and cathode)
– Copper in concentrate (tonnes)		14,606	62,716⁽²⁾	4,573	19,813	3,299	18,411
– Copper cathode (tonnes)		616	2,413	–	–	–	–
– Zinc (tonnes)		–	–	1,632	6,509	–	–
– Molybdenum (Mo tonnes)		49	113	–	–	–	–
– Lead (tonnes)		–	–	213	1,148	–	–
– Silver (ounces)		66,284	285,877	348,074	1,615,216	23,628	170,946
– Gold (ounces)⁽³⁾		–	923	–	–	3,398	19,909
Payable Copper Production⁽¹⁾(tonnes) (in concentrate and cathode)		14,716	62,986⁽²⁾	4,374	18,941	3,192	17,813
Mine
– Ore (tonnes) – open pit		4,962,042	20,930,601	–	–	39,803	517,260
– Waste (tonnes)		129,729	932,037	–	–	88,042	2,858,274
– Ore (tonnes) – underground		–	–	301,566	1,216,235	68,645	301,447
Mill
– Tonnes processed		4,359,423	17,231,201	305,079	1,228,234	350,474	1,438,740
– Tonnes processed per day		47,385	47,209	3,316	3,365	3,810	3,942
– Copper grade (%)		0.37⁽⁴⁾	0.41⁽⁴⁾	1.61	1.74	1.04	1.37
– Zinc grade (%)		–	–	0.83	0.85	–	–
– Molybdenum grade (%)		0.011	0.012	–	–	–	–
– Lead grade (%)		–	–	0.14	0.18	–	–
– Silver grade (g/t)		*	*	50.7	57.8	3.1	4.7
– Gold grade (g/t)		–	–	–	–	0.42	0.56
Recoveries
– Copper (%)		88.8⁽⁴⁾	88.9⁽⁴⁾	92.8	92.7	90.4	93.2
– Zinc (%)		–	–	64.8	62.0	–	–
– Lead (%)		–	–	49.5	52.5	–	–
– Silver (%)		*	*	70.0	70.8	68.4	78.5
– Gold (%)		–	–	–	–	71.8	77.5
Concentrates⁽²⁾
– Copper concentrate (dmt)		49,087	211,709	17,774	77,735	10,916	50,246
	Copper (%)	27.1	29.6	25.7	25.5	30.2	36.6
	Silver (g/t)	*	*	558.0	583.4	67	105.8
	Gold (g/t)	–	–	–	–	9.7	12.3
– Zinc concentrate (dmt)		–	–	3,580	14,099	–	–
	Zinc (%)	–	–	45.6	46.2	–	–
– Molybdenum concentrate (dmt)		94	222	–	–	–	–
– Lead concentrate (dmt)		–	–	397	1,951	–	–
	Lead (%)	–	–	53.6	58.8	–	–
	Silver (g/t)	–	–	2,298	2,504	–	–
Payable Copper Shipped (tonnes) (in concentrate and cathode)		15,399	64,085	3,954	18,968	4,398	20,894

(1) Adjustments based on final settlements will be made in future periods. (2) Pinto Valley quarterly production has been adjusted to reflect reconciliations from smelter to mine that lagged in the first part of the year. Adjustments will be done on a monthly basis going forward. (3) 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 has not been estimated in the Pinto Valley resource model. Only recovered silver is reported for this mine.

2015 Operating and Capital Guidance

Capstone expects to release 2015 operating and capital guidance during the week of January 19 – 23, 2015.

Financial Results Timing

Capstone will report 2014 financial results on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 after market close, followed by a conference call and webcast for investors and analysts on Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 11:30 am Eastern Time(8:30 am Pacific Time).

Conference Call and Webcast Details

Date:	Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Time:	11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time)
Dial in:	North America: 1-888-390-0546, International: +416-764-8688
Webcast:	http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/detail/1460897/1625621
Replay:	North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677
Replay Passcode:	380257#

The conference call replay will be available until Wednesday, March 4, 2015. The conference call audio and transcript will be available on Capstone's website within approximately 24 hours of the call athttp://capstonemining.com/investors/conference-calls-and-webcasts/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 inChile. Using our cash flow and strong balance sheet as a platform, Capstone's strategy is to continue to grow with mineral resource and reserve expansions and exploration, and 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", "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; 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 Brad Skeeles, P. Eng., Vice President of North American Operations (Technical Information related to mining and production) and Gregg Bush, P. Eng., Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, all Qualified Persons under NI 43-101.

SOURCE Capstone Mining Corp.

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

Original Article: http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1471245/capstone-mining-2014-production-results

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