Capstone adds 219 million pounds of copper to Minto Mine's measured and indicated resource

Capstone Mining (TSE:CS) announced Monday that the addition of the Wildfire/Copper Keel area to a previous resource model has increased the measured and indicated resource base by 219 million pounds of copper at its Minto Mine.
The company said that at a 0.5% copper cut-off grade, the total mineral resource estimate for the whole Minto Mine, which is located in the Yukon Territories, now exceeds 1 billion pounds of copper.
New drill holes from this year and last in the Wildfire/Copper Keel area indicated that both these regions were a southeast extension of the previous resource model for the Area 2/118 deposit, and not separate deposits as originally thought.
As a result, roughly 134 new drill holes were added to the existing database of 235 holes for Area 2/118, and were combined into one deposit, known as Minto South.
"The exploration success at Minto continues to be translated into mineral resource additions that support the near term growth strategy at our mining operations," said vice president of exploration, Brad Mercer.
"Since 2006, the Minto Mine has realized steady expansion through a program of discovery and feasibility in a series of phases that have increased mine life and throughput."
Indeed, additional mineral resources from the Wildfire and Copper Keel areas boosted total measured and indicated resources for Minto South to 36.4 million tonnes at 1.03% copper, 0.35 g/t gold and 3.5 g/t silver, for 827.2 million pounds of contained copper, 413,000 ounces of gold and 4.1 million ounces of silver.
The Vancouver, B.C.-based company said it plans to begin a new pre-feasibility study in the third quarter. Capstone's shares were last trading at $3.48 each on Friday.