COPPER: Capstone completes purchase of Pinto Valley operations

ARIZONA – Capstone Mining Corp. of Vancouver has completed the acquisition of the Pinto Valley copper mine 125 km east of Phoenix from a subsidiary of BHP Billiton. The associated San Manuel Arizona Railroad is included in the US$650 million price.

BHP Billiton began the restart of operations at Pinto Valley in December 2012. The target milling rate is 50,800 t/d with this year's production to total between 130 million and 150 million lb Cu.

Capstone will continue to ramp up production levels to achieve targets. There is also the potential to upgrade the existing 968 million tonnes of measured an indicated resources grading 0.35% Cu into reserves. A preliminary feasibility study is underway to further that goal.

Steve Winkleman formerly Capstone's VP of North American operations, is now general manager at Pinto Valley.

Information about Pinto Valley is already on Capstone's website at CapstoneMining.com.