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VANCOUVER, Oct. 11, 2013 /CNW/ - Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone")
(TSX: CS) has completed the previously announced acquisition of the
Pinto Valley copper mine and the associated San Manuel Arizona Railroad
Company from BHP Copper Inc., a subsidiary of BHP Billiton Ltd. ("BHP
Billiton").




"The closing of the Pinto Valley acquisition advances us as one of the
leading intermediate copper producers, with a focus in the Americas,"
said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "Following the
closing of the transaction, we have retained considerable financial
flexibility with a very conservative capital structure."




The purchase price of US$650 million was funded from cash and Capstone's
credit facilities.




Operations




The restart of the Pinto Valley Mine, which commenced in December 2012,
is continuing with a targeted run-rate of 50,800 tonnes per day by the
end of 2013 with annualized production of 130 million to 150 million
pounds of copper per year.




Capstone will commence reporting full operating and production
information for Pinto Valley with its fourth quarter report.




An experienced workforce remains in place, with 98% of Pinto Valley's
650 employees accepting Capstone's offer of employment, including all
key positions. Steve Winkelmann, formerly Capstone's VP of North
American Operations, has been appointed Pinto Valley's Mine General
Manager and has been on site shadowing his BHP Billiton counterpart
since early September. Steve has 40 years of mining experience
including large mining operations, primarily in the US and most
recently in Arizona.




Next Steps




The Capstone Pinto Valley team will initially focus on continuing to
ramp up production levels and the integration of the operations to
achieve our targets. At the same time leadership will identify
opportunities for cost reduction, reliability enhancement and
throughput maximization.




Capstone believes that considerable potential exists to upgrade the
existing 968 million tonnes of Measured and Indicated ("M&I") Mineral
Resources (grading 0.35% copper at a 0.25% cut-off grade) into
reserves, potentially extending the operation beyond the current
reserve life as reported by BHP Billiton. A Preliminary Feasibility
Study ("PFS") is underway that will target the M&I Mineral Resources
for potential conversion to reserves, with expected completion in late
2013 or early 2014. The PFS will consider the potential to extend
operations within the currently permitted boundaries. In addition,
Capstone plans to commission engineering and economic studies to
consider all remaining current mineral resources and their potential
for development.




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 copper mines; the newly acquired Pinto Valley
copper-molybdenum-silver mine in Arizona, US, the Cozamin
copper-silver-zinc-lead mine located in Zacatecas State, Mexico and the
Minto copper-gold-silver mine in Yukon, Canada. In addition, Capstone
has two development projects, the 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
continued mineral resource and reserve expansions, 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 TSX.










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 estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources,
the conversion of mineral resources to mineral reserves, the timing of
completing the PFS and follow-on engineering and economic studies for
Pinto Valley, the anticipated production from the Pinto Valley Mine,
the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of
estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures,
success of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated
reclamation expenses, 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 exploration and 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 actual results of current exploration
activities; 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; availability of
infrastructure required for the development of mining projects; delays
in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion
of development or construction 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 . 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.




Quality Assurance and NI 43-101 Compliance




The technical information in this news release has been prepared in
accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National
Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the
Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101") and reviewed by Brad
Skeeles, P. Eng., Vice President, North American Operations (Technical
Information related to mining and production), a "Qualified Person"
under NI 43-101. The mineral resource estimate reported herein for the
Pinto Valley property is set out in the NI 43-101 technical report
"Pinto Valley Property Mineral Resource Estimate" with an effective
date of February 28, 2013, prepared by Garth Kirkham, P. Geo, Kirkham
Geosystems Ltd., an independent Qualified Person, based on information
provided by BHP Billiton is available on SEDAR. BHP Billiton's mineral
reserve estimate has been publicly reported in the BHP Billiton 2012
Annual Report.




In addition, Gregg Bush, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating
Officer for Capstone Mining Corp. reviewed and approved this news
release.




Cautionary Note to United States Investors




This news release contains disclosure that has been prepared in
accordance with the requirements of Canadian securities laws, which
differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Without limiting
the foregoing, this news release refers to a technical report that uses
the terms "indicated" and "inferred" resources. U.S. investors are
cautioned that, while such terms are recognized and required by
Canadian securities laws, the SEC does not recognize them. Under U.S.
standards, mineralization may not be classified as a "reserve" unless
the determination has been made that the mineralization could be
economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve
determination is made. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that
all or any part of indicated resources will ever be converted into
reserves. U.S. investors should also understand that "inferred
resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and
as to whether they can be mined legally or economically. It cannot be
assumed that all or any part of "inferred resources" will ever be
upgraded to a higher category. Therefore, U.S. investors are also
cautioned not to assume that all or any part of inferred resources
exist, or that they can be mined legally or economically. Accordingly,
information concerning descriptions of mineralization and resources
contained in this news release may not be comparable to information
made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure
requirements of the SEC.



SOURCE: Capstone Mining Corp.



For further information:

Cindy Burnett, VP, Investor Relations and Communications 604-637-8157 [email protected]