Name: Pinto Valley mine (PVM).

Location: PVM is located 125 km east of Phoenix, in the US state of Arizona.

Controlling Company: Capstone Mining.

Brief History: PVM has been in operation since 1974, with two shutdown periods for economic and strategic reasons. The mine and plant were restarted in December 2012, following a large capital improvement and maintenance project, and are expected to remain fully operational for the duration of the life of the mine.

The property was originally owned by Miami Copper Company in 1909 and transitioned, through acquisitions and mergers by the Tennessee Corporation and Cities Service Company, to the Occidental Petroleum Corporation. Occidental sold the property to Newmont Mining Corporation in 1983, which changed the name to Pinto Valley Copper Corporation (Pinto Valley Copper). In 1986, Pinto Valley Copper became the Pinto Valley Mining Division of Magma Copper Company. In 1995, Broken Hill Proprietary Company acquired Magma Copper Company and, after merging with BHP Billiton in 2001, the Pinto Valley Mining Division became the Pinto Valley Operations of BHP Billiton. In 2013, Capstone acquired Pinto Valley Operations, now referred to as the Pinto Valley mine.

Brief Description: PVM is an established, fully operational copper-/molybdenum-producing mine with silver by-products. The mine is an openpit operation, with an L-shaped pit estimated to be 305 m deep, 1 524 m wide and 2 134 m long.

Geology/Mineralisation: The PVM deposit is a hypogene orebody with chalcopyrite, pyrite and minor molybdenite as the only significant primary sulphide minerals. The primary host rock for the PVM porphyry copper deposit is the Precambrian-age Lost Gulch quartz monzonite, which is equivalent to Oracle or Ruin granite. The formation of the deposit was associated with the intrusion of small bodies and dikes of granite porphyry and granodiorite.

Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves as at January 1, 2014, were estimated at 232.22-million tonnes grading 0.33% copper and 0.008% molybdenum.

Resources: Total measured and indicated resources as at January 1, 2014, were estimated at 1.56-billion tonnes grading 0.3% copper and 0.007% molybdenum. Inferred resources were estimated at 58.2-million tonnes grading 0.23% copper and 0.005% molybdenum.

Products: Copper and molybdenum concentrates.

Mining Method: PVM uses openpit hard-rock mining methods.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The ore-processing, tailings storage, waste rock and maintenance facilities are located on the property close to the pit. The ore-processing facility comprises three crushing stages, six ball mills, three copper flotation stages, a molybdenum flotation circuit and associated thickeners for increasing the density of concentrates and tailings. Two tailings storage facilities are currently operational. A solvent extraction electrowinning facility is also located on the property, which produces copper cathode.

The current mining fleet consists of two CAT 6420 blasthole drills, three CAT 994 front-end loaders and fifteen CAT 789 haul trucks.

The fleet is expected to expand to a maximum of three blasthole drills, one CAT 994 front-end loader, two hydraulic shovels and nineteen CAT 789 haul trucks by 2017.

Prospects: PVM has sufficient infrastructure to support current operations, but minor upgrades to existing facilities will be required to support the work plan.

Pinto Valley Phase 2 (PV2) mine development pushbacks are planned for the south and east sides of the openpit. PV2 is based on sustaining ore mining and processing capacities at an estimated 50 000 t/d for the first two years, increasing to 52 000 t/d into 2026.

Contact Person: VP: investor relations and communications Cindy Burnett.

Contact Details:
Capstone Mining,
tel + 1 604 684 8894,
fax +1 604 688 2180,
email info@capstonemining.com, and
website http://capstonemining.com.