Capstone Mining Corp. (CS: TSX) today announced that it had successfully confirmed continuity between the two prior high grade intercepts announced on October 20, 2010 in the Mala Noche Footwall Zone at its Cozamin Mine, and had encountered the MNFWZ in a cross-cut driven to evaluate the potential of this new discovery for mining.
- Hole U240 Intercepts 6.5% Cu & 118g/t Ag over 7.3m (including 11.0% Cu & 202g/t Ag over 4.1m) plus a second zone of 3.0% Cu, 4.1g/t Au & 355g/t Ag over 11.2m
On October 20, 2010, Capstone announced the discovery of a zone of high grade copper-silver mineralization in the MNFWZ in holes located 200m east of prior drilling. This discovery was made in a splay off the main Mala Noche vein and is in close proximity to the current mineral reserves and active mine workings. Hole U240, drilled between the two prior intercepts, intersected two intervals with high copper-gold-silver values over significant widths, confirming continuity of the high grade mineralization over approximately 150m of dip extent. The high gold values in hole U240 are particularly encouraging, as they are much higher than is typical for the Cozamin Mine. Hole U241, drilled on an adjacent section also intersected high grade copper silver mineralization. Three additional holes have been completed, for which assays are pending, two additional holes are in progress and more holes are planned. Capstone has added a second underground drill to expedite the evaluation of this high grade zone in the MNFWZ, which will continue into 2011.
In addition to underground drilling, Capstone has commenced driving a cross-cut into the MNFWZ mineralization and has exposed the first of several anticipated mineralized zones. Once completely through the MNFWZ, lateral drifts will be completed along the mineralization to provide a thorough evaluation of the continuity of the mineralization and to generate metallurgical samples for testing. Given the close proximity of the MNFWZ to active mine haulage ways, the evaluation of this discovery is a priority for the remainder of 2010 and into 2011, with the objective of defining mineral resources and mineral reserves in order to provide a potential source of high grade mill feed.
"The discovery of the Mala Noche Footwall zone provides a near term opportunity to add high grade production at Cozamin," said Stephen Quin, President of Capstone. "Given the very encouraging results from holes completed to date, we continue to ramp up our evaluation, with drilling, drifting and metallurgical testing to continue through the end of the year and into 2011."
The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed by Stephen P. Quin, P. Geo., President of Capstone Mining Corp. The exploration activities at the Cozamin Mine are carried out under the supervision of Brad Mercer, P. Geol., VP Exploration for Capstone. Analyses for copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold were completed by ALS Chemex using the following method. The entire sample is crushed to a minimum of 70% minus 10 mesh. A 250g subsample of the crushed material is then pulverized to 85% minus 200 mesh. Gold and silver grades are determined by gravimetric fire assay using a 50g charge taken from the pulverized material. Copper, zinc and lead are determined by ICP analysis after 4 acid digestion of a 0.4g subsample of the pulverized material.
Source: Capstone Mining Corp.