Capstone Mining Corp. (TSX: CS) today announced high grade results from step-out drilling at its Cozamin Mine in Mexico, which will be included in a re-estimation of mineral resources in the Mala Noche Footwall Zone later this year. Since the last Mineral Resource estimate, effective March 31, 2018, Capstone has completed 46 additional holes, including 23 step-out holes beyond the boundaries of the March 31 model. Drill intercepts underpinning Capstone’s decision to re-estimate the Mineral Resource are summarized below in Table 1.

Table 1 – Selected MNFWZ Drilling Completed Since March 31, 2018 Mineral Resource Estimate

*estimated true width of vein intercept for inclined drill holes

“Given the grade and substantially thicker intervals in multiple new drill intercepts, including holes well up-dip of the March 31 resource model, we have decided to re-estimate the MNFWZ Mineral Resource,” said Brad Mercer, Senior Vice President of Exploration at Capstone. “We have completed drilling up-dip and along strike, and to a lesser extent down-dip, from the March 2018 Mineral Resource estimate. We intend to keep drilling with five to six drills for the remainder of 2018, both stepping out and infilling the MNFWZ extension.” 

A Cozamin technical review is underway and a technical report is expected to be completed later this year. The review will target the March 31 Mineral Resource for conversion to mineral reserves, update the resource estimate to include the additional drilling since the March 31 update and will also include the materials handling study currently underway. This study is assessing options to increase Cozamin’s copper output by debottlenecking the mine in order to take advantage of the current 20% unutilized mill capacity.

“We are extremely optimistic about Cozamin’s future based on our recent exploration success,” said Darren Pylot, Capstone’s President and CEO. “This low cost mine is going through a paradigm shift as we continue to unlock its potential value through ongoing exploration and evaluation of various scenarios to increase copper production.”

The full results for all MNFWZ holes completed since the March 31, 2018 Mineral Resource estimate are in Table 2 below. For drill hole location and context please view the long-section of the MNFWZ at: http://capstonemining.com/files/images/maps/MNFWZ-Sept2018.pdf.  

Table 2 – All MNFWZ Drilling Completed Since March 31, 2018 Mineral Resource Estimate

*estimated true width of vein intercept for inclined drill holes

All samples were submitted for preparation by ALS at its facilities in Zacatecas, Mexico, followed by analysis at the ALS Laboratory in North Vancouver, Canada. The entire sample is crushed to a minimum of 70% passing -10 mesh. A 250g subsample of the crushed material is then pulverized to 85% passing -200 mesh. Copper, zinc, lead and silver are determined by ICP analysis after 4 acid digestion of a 0.4g subsample of pulverized material. Gold is determined by fire assay of a 30g sub-sample with AA finish. QAQC samples in each batch of 20 samples include a blank, a certified reference material and a duplicate (one of a field, coarse reject or pulp reject).

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 the large scale 70% owned copper-iron Santo Domingo development project in Region III, Chile, in partnership with Korea Resources Corporation as well as a portfolio of exploration properties. Capstone’s strategy is to focus on the optimization of operations and assets in politically stable, mining-friendly regions, centred in the Americas.