Capstone Mining continues to significantly increase reserves at Cozamin

"The Cozamin mine continues to be a valuable asset for Capstone and formed the foundation upon which we built our company," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone.

"Since commencing production at 1000 tpd in 2006, Cozamin has demonstrated a remarkable ability to continue to discover and define new reserves. Today, more than 12 years and approximately 12 million milled tonnes later, we announce the next step in Cozamin's evolution. The combination of the new reserves, as well as the significantly increased Inferred Resources, give us the confidence to make additional investment to increase Cozamin's production profile. We look forward to continued exploration success and the further delineation of reserves at Cozamin as the mine continues to operate well into the future."

Mineral reserve estimate

The following Mineral Reserve estimate incorporates all resource drilling to 24 October 2018. This estimate formed the basis for the Materials Handling Study that prioritised options to increase production.

Processing rates

Cozamin's mill throughput is currently constrained by the mine's ability to deliver ore to surface. The materials handling study identified congestion on the main haulage ramp as the mine production bottleneck and compared several alternative solutions to sustainably raise production to match the nameplate mill capacity. For a total investment of less than CAN$5 million, Cozamin will be able to transform its haulage network from a two-way single ramp to a one-way ramp loop by connecting an existing main ramp to a planned ramp with a short (~1 km) drift. The future one-way haulage loop (including the aforementioned planned ramp) is expected to be completed by the end of 2020 and raise production by approximately 30%, when compared to current mine production rates.

Mineral Resource estimate methodology 

The Mineral Resource estimate reported herein was prepared by Garth Kirkham, P.Geo., FGC, of Kirkham Geosystems Ltd. of Burnaby, BC, (Canada) an Independent Qualified Person under Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101). The Mineral Resources presented herein have been estimated in conformity with generally accepted CIM ‘Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves Best Practices’ guidelines and are reported in accordance with NI 43-101. The estimate was completed using MineSight™ software using a three-dimensional block model (12 m by 2 m by 10 m block size with 4 m by 0.5 m by 2 m sub-blocks). The MNFWZ model is comprised of eight interpreted three-dimensional wireframes which were the primary estimation domain and hard boundaries were used to constrain the interpolation of grades into the block model. Interpolation parameters have been derived based on geostatistical analysis conducted on one metre composited drill hole. Block grades have been estimated using ordinary kriging (OK) methodology and the

Mineral Resources have been classified based on proximity to sample data and the continuity of mineralisation in accordance with CIM Definition Standards and Estimation Best Practices. The MNFWZ resource has been estimated using a total of 931 diamond drill holes with 3221 sample composites.

Mala Noche Vein (MNV) Resources were updated with the same NSR formula used for MNFWZ and depleted for mining activities until 24 October 2018. No drilling was completed at MNV since 2017. Capstone believes the parameters and methodology are sufficient to consider the MNV Mineral Resources as current for reporting purposes.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/11122018/capstone-mining-continues-to-significantly-increase-reserves-at-cozamin/