Capstone 2012 Second Quarter Production Results On Target

VANCOUVER, July 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Year-to-date production of 40.5 million pounds of copper in concentrates

Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone") (TSX: CS) today announced its operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012 for its two operating mines, Cozamin and Minto. Combined production totalled 21.9 and 40.5 million pounds of copper in concentrates in the second quarter and first six months, respectively, with additional by-products of lead, zinc, silver and gold.

    Q2 2012 Production
                       Q1 2012 Q2 2012  YTD 2012
    Copper in concentrates
    (millions of pounds)
    Cozamin               13.0    12.1      25.1
    Minto                  5.6     9.8      15.4
    Total                 18.6    21.9      40.5

"Overall we are very pleased with production in the second quarter," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone.  "Both mines broke new throughput records during the quarter, with Cozamin performing exceptionally well and above our expectations.  At Minto, we have completed the transition from our Main Pit to the Area 2 Pit, with operations fully ramped up and on track to meet guidance for the year."

Operational highlights for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012

• Production of 21.9 and 40.5 million pounds of copper contained in concentrates, respectively.
• By-product production of 4.6 and 8.7 million pounds of zinc, 1.0 and 1.8 million pounds of lead and 482,001 and 912,533 ounces of silver in concentrates.  Final gold production is not available since assaying is conducted off-site, but is estimated at 3,214 and 5,302 ounces for the respective periods.
• At Cozamin, the second quarter was another strong one, with record ore mined for the quarter and record monthly mill throughput of 3,638 tonnes per day in June.  Recoveries continued at high levels; however the copper grade was down from the higher grades seen in the first quarter.
• At Minto, the transition from the Main Pit to the Area 2 Pit is complete with fresh ore from the Area 2 Pit feeding the mill for the latter part of the quarter.  The fresh ore is processing extremely well and Minto achieved record throughput for the quarter of 3,879 tonnes per day, with grades and recoveries coming up.  June's production was just over 3,600 tonnes per day, with an average copper recovery of 92.9% on a head grade of 1.81% copper.

    Q2 Operating Details
                                          Cozamin           Minto
                                      Q2 2012 YTD 2012 Q2 2012 YTD 2012
    Production (1)
    (contained in concentrates)
          - Copper (000s pounds)       12,140   25,124   9,770   15,401
          - Lead (000s pounds)            988    1,818       -        -
          - Zinc (000s pounds)          4,639    8,737       -        -
          - Silver (ounces)           429,121  833,794  52,880   78,739
          - Gold (ounces)                   -        -   3,214    5,302
    Mine
          - Tonnes of ore mined       310,292  600,991 315,642  377,058
    Mill
          - Tonnes processed          311,266  601,488 353,007  672,845
          - Tonnes processed per day    3,421    3,305   3,879    3,697
          - Copper grade (%)             1.90     2.04    1.37     1.17
          - Lead grade (%)               0.23     0.23       -        -
          - Zinc grade (%)               1.04     1.01       -        -
          - Silver grade (g/t)           59.6     60.3     5.5      4.5
          - Gold grade (g/t)                -        -    0.47     0.37
    Recoveries
          - Copper (%)                   93.0     93.1    91.9     89.0
          - Lead (%)                     62.4     60.2       -        -
          - Zinc (%)                     65.0     65.2       -        -
          - Silver (%)                   71.9     71.4    84.4     81.7
          - Gold (%)                        -        -    70.9     68.3
    Concentrates (1)
          - Copper concentrate (dmt)   21,307   43,254  11,674   19,156
                        Copper (%)       25.8     26.3    38.0     36.5
                        Silver (g/t)      542      530     141      128
                        Gold (g/t)          -        -     8.6      8.6
          - Lead concentrate (dmt)        757    1,366       -        -
                        Lead (%)         59.2     60.4       -        -
                        Silver (g/t)    2,382    2,211       -        -
          - Zinc concentrate (dmt)      4,247    8,014       -        -
                        Zinc (%)         49.6     49.5       -        -

    (1) Adjustments based on final settlements will be made in future periods.

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