Following a pre-feasibility study, officials at Capstone Mining Corp. have announced a life-of-mine extension for their 100% owned Pinto Valley project in Arizona to 2026 from 2018. The Vancouver-headquartered base metals company purchased the mine from BHP Billiton in Q4 2013 for $650 million.
Average annual production through 2023, according to company representatives, is 128.4 million copper lb in concentrate and 6.6 million lb of copper cathode. Annual life of mine production, they added, is 119.5 million copper lb in concentrate, 6.3 million cathode copper lb, and 1.4 million molybdenum lb and 235,000 silver oz to concentrate.
Dating to 1974, the Pinto Valley open-pit complex includes a mill operation with multiple crushing systems, ball mills and flotation concentration. The mill produces copper and molybdenum concentrate, while copper cathodes are produced through a SX/EW plant through leaching.
Other Capstone assets include the Mexican Cozamin copper-silver-zinc-lead mine and the Minto copper-gold-silver project in Yukon, Canada. Capstone also has two development projects, the 70% owned Santo Domingo copper-iron-gold operation in Chile and the wholly owned Kutcho copper-zinc-gold-silver asset in British Columbia.
