Capstone Mining Announces High Grade Step-out Holes at Cozamin Mine

VANCOUVER, Sept. 17, 2018 - Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone" or the "Company") (TSX: CS) today announced high grade results from step-out drilling at its Cozamin Mine in Mexico, which will be included in a re-estimation of mineral resources in the Mala Noche Footwall Zone ("MNFWZ") later this year. Since the last Mineral Resource estimate, effective March 31, 2018, Capstone has completed 46 additional holes, including 23 step-out holes beyond the boundaries of the March 31 model. Drill intercepts underpinning Capstone's decision to re-estimate the Mineral Resource are summarized below in Table 1.

Table 1 – Selected MNFWZ Drilling Completed Since March 31, 2018 Mineral Resource Estimate

*estimated true width of vein intercept for inclined drill holes

"Given the grade and substantially thicker intervals in multiple new drill intercepts, including holes well up-dip of the March 31 resource model, we have decided to re-estimate the MNFWZ Mineral Resource," said Brad Mercer, Senior Vice President of Exploration at Capstone. "We have completed drilling up-dip and along strike, and to a lesser extent down-dip, from the March 2018 Mineral Resource estimate. We intend to keep drilling with five to six drills for the remainder of 2018, both stepping out and infilling the MNFWZ extension." 

A Cozamin technical review is underway and a technical report is expected to be completed later this year. The review will target the March 31 Mineral Resource for conversion to mineral reserves, update the resource estimate to include the additional drilling since the March 31 update and will also include the materials handling study currently underway. This study is assessing options to increase Cozamin's copper output by debottlenecking the mine in order to take advantage of the current 20% unutilized mill capacity.

"We are extremely optimistic about Cozamin's future based on our recent exploration success," said Darren Pylot, Capstone's President and CEO. "This low cost mine is going through a paradigm shift as we continue to unlock its potential value through ongoing exploration and evaluation of various scenarios to increase copper production."

The full results for all MNFWZ holes completed since the March 31, 2018 Mineral Resource estimate are in Table 2 below. For drill hole location and context please view the long-section of the MNFWZ at: http://capstonemining.com/files/images/maps/MNFWZ-Sept2018.pdf.  

Table 2 – All MNFWZ Drilling Completed Since March 31, 2018 Mineral Resource Estimate

*estimated true width of vein intercept for inclined drill holes

All samples were submitted for preparation by ALS at its facilities in Zacatecas, Mexico, followed by analysis at the ALS Laboratory in North Vancouver, Canada. The entire sample is crushed to a minimum of 70% passing -10 mesh. A 250g subsample of the crushed material is then pulverized to 85% passing -200 mesh. Copper, zinc, lead and silver are determined by ICP analysis after 4 acid digestion of a 0.4g subsample of pulverized material. Gold is determined by fire assay of a 30g sub-sample with AA finish. QAQC samples in each batch of 20 samples include a blank, a certified reference material and a duplicate (one of a field, coarse reject or pulp reject).

About Capstone Mining Corp.
Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company, focused on copper. We are committed to the responsible development of our assets and the environments in which we operate. Our three producing mines are the Pinto Valley copper mine located in Arizona, US, the Cozamin polymetallic mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico and the Minto copper mine in Yukon, Canada. In addition, Capstone has the large scale 70% owned copper-iron Santo Domingo development project in Region III, Chile, in partnership with Korea Resources Corporation as well as a portfolio of exploration properties. Capstone's strategy is to focus on the optimization of operations and assets in politically stable, mining-friendly regions, centred in the Americas. Our headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and we are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Further information is available at 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 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 our expectations or beliefs regarding future events. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the continuing success of mineral exploration, Capstone's ability to fund future exploration activities, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production and the success of mining operations. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "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 "subject", "expected" and "intend". By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, amongst others, risks related to inherent hazards associated with mining projects, future prices of copper and other metals, changes in general economic conditions, 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 under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause our results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that our forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements.

National Instrument 43-101 Compliance
Unless otherwise indicated, Capstone has prepared the technical information in this news release ("Technical Information") based on information contained in the technical reports, news releases and MD&A's (collectively the "Disclosure Documents") available under Capstone Mining Corp.'s company profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Each Disclosure Document 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").  Readers are encouraged to review the full text of the Disclosure Documents which qualifies the Technical Information.  Readers are advised that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The Disclosure Documents are each intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context. The Technical Information is subject to the assumptions and qualifications contained in the Disclosure Documents.

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 supervised and reviewed by Brad Mercer, P. Geol., Capstone's Senior Vice President, Exploration, a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and the person who oversees exploration activities on the Cozamin Mine property. In addition, Gregg Bush, Capstone's Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, reviewed and approved this news release.

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SOURCE Capstone Mining Corp.