Capstone Mining Corp.: Cozamin Mine Achieves Commercial Production
Tuesday September 12, 7:00 am ET
ca.us.biz.yahoo.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Sept. 12, 2006) - CAPSTONE MINING (TSX:CS - News)is pleased to report that its 100% owned Cozamin copper-silver-zinc mine located in Zacatecas State, Mexico has achieved commercial production.
Cozamin Plant
During the month of August, all of the mill parameters exceeded 90% of the feasibility design including throughput and recoveries. The mill throughput rate averaged 916tpd and totaled 28,400 tons for the month. Concentrate production included 1,419 tons of copper concentrate grading 24% copper, 600 tons of zinc concentrate grading 47% zinc, and 153 tons of lead concentrate grading 70% lead. Recoveries for copper were 86%, zinc 55%, lead 65% and silver 69%. The average head grade for the mill tonnage was 1.4% copper, 0.6% lead, 1.8% zinc and 66.0 g/t silver.
As of August 31, 2006, the following saleable concentrates have been produced and are currently stored as inventory at the mine site. Initial sales for these concentrates are expected in September.
- 2,000 tons of copper grading 24% (1,057,920 lbs)
- 600 tons of zinc grading 47% (621,528 lbs)
- 200 tons of lead grading 70% (308,560 lbs)
- 63,000 ounces of silver contained in concentrates
San Roberto Mine
In August, the mine produced 20,000 tons of ore. Additional tons were taken from stockpiled ore on surface which are made up of mine clean up ore and early stope development ore. These stockpiles are expected to be consumed by the end of October. A total of 72,000 tons of ore have been removed from underground as of the end of August. The new level 10 dump pockets and loading station are expected to be completed by mid-October. These will allow full production from level 10, enabling the mine to operate at or above the designed rate of 1,000 tpd.
Exploration
A 5,000 m Phase 4 surface exploration drilling program will begin in September. This program is designed to test the down dip and western extents of the Mala Noche vein system and to explore for potential skarn and stockwork mineralization at depth. Also, in September, the 20,000 m Phase 5 underground infill drill program will commence. Approximately 66% of this drilling will target areas on the western sector of the deposit where prior surface exploration drilling successfully intersected ore grade mineralization. The remainder of the drilling is intended to upgrade areas of indicated and inferred resources.
QA/QC
All mine, plant control and concentrate assaying is done on site at the Cozamin plant laboratory. Twenty-five percent of the mine sample pulps are sent to an independent laboratory for assay confirmation. Sample duplicates, pulp duplicates, standards and blanks are inserted with every 20 mine samples for quality analysis. Independent laboratories are also being used to confirm plant control and concentrate assays.
Qualified Person Robert Barnes, P.Eng. Vice-President of Operations for Capstone Mining has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.
ABOUT CAPSTONE
Capstone is a Canadian based mining company currently operating the Cozamin copper-silver-zinc mine located in Zacatecas State, Mexico. Capstone has approximately 80.5 million shares outstanding and is well financed with no debt. More information is available online at: www.capstonemining.com.
Contact:
Chris Tomanik
Capstone Mining Corp.
(604) 684-8894
(604) 688-2180 (FAX)
ctomanik@capstonemining.com
www.capstonemining.com
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Source: Capstone Mining Corp. |
