Capstone Mining Provides Pinto Valley Production Update

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, December 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone") (TSX: CS) today announced production for the Pinto Valley Mine since it assumed ownership on October 11, 2013 from BHP Copper Inc., a subsidiary of BHP Billiton Ltd.

"The ramp up at Pinto Valley is progressing well," said Darren Pylot, Capstone President and CEO. "We have been very pleased since taking over the operation on October 11. Reliability and availability are continuing to improve, giving us every confidence that we will achieve steady-state throughput, grade and recoveries by year-end 2013."

"Our focus in the fourth quarter continues to be on achieving steady-state operations, identifying opportunities for cost reductions and advancing the Preliminary Feasibility Study," continued Mr. Pylot.

Capstone guided Pinto Valley projected production of 22 to 27 million pounds of contained copper for Capstone's 82 days of ownership in the fourth quarter of 2013. With the ramp up proceeding well, fourth quarter production is expected to be at, or above, the top end of fourth quarter guidance. There is no associated guidance with respect to cost, given the lack of recent steady-state historical cost information. A full report of fourth quarter production and 2014 production guidance will be provided following year-end.

                                                October 11 to
                                                     31         November     YTD
                                                    2013          2013    (51 days)
    Contained Copper Production in
    Concentrate (million lbs)                           7.3       10.7       18.0
    Copper Cathode Production (million lbs)             0.3        0.5        0.8
    Total Copper Production (million lbs)               7.6       11.2       18.8
    Throughput (dry tonnes per day)                  44,900     45,400     45,200

About Capstone Mining Corp.

Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company, committed to the responsible development of our assets and the environments in which we operate. We are focused on copper, with three producing mines; the Pinto Valley copper-molybdenum mine located in Arizona, US, the Cozamin copper-silver-zinc-lead mine 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 Region III, Chile, in partnership with Korea Resources Corporation, and the 100% owned Kutcho copper-zinc-gold-silver project in British Columbia, Canada, as well as exploration properties in Canada, Chile and Mexico. 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 http://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 anticipated production from the Pinto Valley Mine, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, success of mining operations, environmental risks, 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 "scheduled", "guidance", "plan", "planned", "estimated", "projections", "projected" and "expected". Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions which may prove incorrect, including, but not limited to, the development potential of the project, current and future commodity prices and exchange rates and continued daily operation of the Pinto Valley Mine. 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; the completion of development 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 http://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 Stephen Winkelmann, Pinto Valley Mine General Manager, Registered Member of The Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. (SME) and Brad Skeeles, P. Eng., Vice President of North American Operations, both Qualified Persons under NI 43-101. In addition, Gregg Bush, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer reviewed all Technical Information in this news release.

For further information:
Cindy Burnett, VP, Investor Relations and Communications
+1-604-637-8157 
[email protected]

SOURCE Capstone Mining Corp.