Capstone Mining Lowers Production Due to Disruptions

Capstone Mining Corp reported lower copper concentrate production in the fourth quarter at its Cozamin mine. The mine located in Mexico in the Zacatecas State was operating at 50% of its production level during that period.

This was due to disruptions caused by stability assessment tests and standard repairs to the main ore haulage ramp. The company produced 18.9 million pounds of copper concentrate in the fourth quarter and Cozamin contributed 8.2 million pounds to that figure.

Capstone Mining said that production levels will rise now that the problems at the mine were almost resolved. The Avoca Zone at the mine is still under development work and will not return to planned production levels till end of next month. In Avoca mining large cavities are opened up to get the ore and it costs less than the traditional techniques of mining.

The Vancouver based miner said that it was expecting to produce 80-85 million pounds of copper in 2011. This is higher than the guidance for 2010 which was in between 78-80 million pounds of copper. It may be basing these figures in the healthy production from the Minto mine located in Yukon, Canada.