Capstone Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2011 Production Results

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, January 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

- 2011 Production of 78.3 million pounds of Copper in Concentrates

Capstone Mining Corp. (TSX: CS) today announced its operating results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2011 for its two operating mines, Cozamin and Minto. Combined production totalled 19.8 and 78.3 million pounds of copper in concentrates in the fourth quarter and full year 2011, respectively, with additional by-products of lead, zinc, silver and gold.

"Cozamin recorded another strong quarter, finishing the year with both record quarterly and annual copper production," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone.  "At Minto, production for the fourth quarter was below expectations, resulting in overall company production of 78.3 million pounds of copper in concentrates, coming in just slightly below our guidance of 80 million pounds for the year."

2011 Production

                           Q1 2011 Q2 2011 Q3 2011 Q4 2011 Total 2011
    Copper in concentrates
    (millions of pounds)
    - Cozamin                  8.6    10.4    10.3    11.9       41.2
    - Minto                    8.1    10.8    10.3     7.9       37.1
    Total                     16.7    21.2    20.6    19.8       78.3

Operational Highlights for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2011

The following is a summary of operational highlights for Capstone during the three and twelve months, respectively, ended December 31, 2011:

• Production of 19.8 and 78.3 million pounds of copper contained in concentrates, respectively.
• By-product production of 3.8 and 18.0 million pounds of zinc, 1.2 and 4.0 million pounds of lead and 473,337 and 1,762,465 ounces of silver in concentrates, respectively.  Final gold production is not available since assaying is conducted off-site, but is estimated at 3,891 and 18,439 ounces for the respective periods.
• At Cozamin, fourth quarter copper production of 11.9 million pounds was a new quarterly record with record average mill throughput of 3,310 tonnes per day.  Milled ore grade at Cozamin for the quarter increased with full production attained from the higher grade Avoca area.
• At Minto, mill throughput continued strong with the continued use of a contractor for the pre-crushing of the mill feed.  However, higher throughput was offset by continuing challenges associated with processing of stockpiles of partially oxidized ore from the Main Pit.  Efforts are ongoing to develop an effective ore blending and reagent scenario to more effectively process these materials.

Q4 Operating Details

                                   Cozamin             Minto             TOTAL
                              Q4     Total      Q4     Total      Q4     Total
                            2011      2011    2011      2011    2011      2011
    Production [(1)]
    (contained in
    concentrates)
    - Copper (000s
    pounds)               11,898    41,212   7,908    37,124  19,806    78,337
    - Lead (000s pounds)   1,228     3,960       -         -   1,228     3,960
    - Zinc (000s pounds)   3,818    18,035       -         -   3,818    18,035
    - Silver (ounces)    432,591 1,566,367  40,748   196,098 473,337 1,762,465
    - Gold (ounces)            -         -   3,891    18,439   3,891    18,439
    Mine
    - Tonnes of ore
    mined                307,163 1,110,104  52,545   728,253 359,708 1,838,357
    Mill
    - Tonnes processed   304,556 1,097,759 336,949 1,258,308 641,505 2,356,067
     - Tonnes processed
          per day          3,310     3,008   3,662     3,447       -         -
    - Copper grade (%)      1.90      1.84    1.28      1.52    1.57      1.67
    - Lead grade (%)        0.29      0.25       -         -       -         -
    - Zinc grade (%)        0.86      1.09       -         -       -         -
    - Silver grade (g/t)    59.5      61.2     4.8       6.2       -         -
    - Gold grade (g/t)         -         -    0.49      0.60       -         -
    Recoveries
    - Copper (%)            93.1      92.8    83.5      87.9    89.0      90.2
    - Lead (%)              63.9      64.2       -         -       -         -
    - Zinc (%)              66.1      68.2       -         -       -         -
    - Silver (%)            74.3      72.5    78.3      78.6       -         -
    - Gold (%)                 -         -    73.2      75.8       -         -
    Concentrates [(1)]
    -Copper concentrates
           (dmt)          20,250    70,650  10,004    46,215  30,254   116,865
    - Copper (%)            26.7      26.5    35.8      36.4    29.7      30.4
    - Silver (g/t)           583       602     133       132     434       416
    - Gold (g/t)               -         -    10.5      12.4    10.5      12.4
    - Lead concentrates
    (dmt)                    845     2,796       -         -     845     2,796
    - Lead (%)              65.9      64.2       -         -    65.9      64.2
    - Silver (g/t)         1,955     2,216       -         -   1,955     2,216
    - Zinc concentrates
    (dmt)                  3,578    16,720       -         -   3,578    16,720
    - Zinc (%)              48.4      48.9       -         -    48.4      48.9

(1) Adjustments based on final settlements will be made in future periods.

Q4 Financial Results Timing

Capstone will report 2011 full year financial results on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 after market close, followed by a conference call for investors and analysts on Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 11:30 am Eastern time (8:30 am Pacific time).

Conference Call and Webcast Details

               Thursday, March 15, 2012
    Date:      11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time)
    Time:      North America -- 1.888.231.8191, International --
    Dial in:   1.647.427.7450
    Webcast:   http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/viewEvent.cgi?eventID=3809520
    Replay:    North America -- 1.855.859.2056, International --
    Replay     1.416.849.0833
    Passcode:  42642132

The conference call replay will be available until March 29, 2012. A transcript of the call will also be made available on Capstone's website (http://capstonemining.com/s/ConferenceCalls.asp) within approximately 24 hours of the call.

About Capstone Mining Corp.

Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian mining company with two producing copper mines, the Cozamin copper-silver-zinc-lead mine located in Zacatecas State, Mexico and the Minto copper-gold-silver mine in Yukon, Canada. In addition, Capstone has two development projects, the large scale 70% owned Santo Domingo copper-iron-gold project in Chile in partnership with Korea Resources Corporation and the 100% owned Kutcho copper-zinc-gold-silver project in British Columbia, as well as exploration at properties in Chile, British Columbia and Australia. Using its cash flow and strong balance sheet as a springboard, Capstone aims to grow organically through continued mineral resource and reserve expansions and through acquisitions in politically stable, mining-friendly regions. Capstone is included in the S&P/TSX Composite Index and S&P/TSX Global Mining Index. Additional information is available athttp://www.capstonemining.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This document may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and Capstone Mining Corp. (the "Company") does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable securities legislation.

Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect Company management's expectations or beliefs regarding future events and include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, success of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims and limitations on insurance coverage. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. By their very nature forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of mineral resources; possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; accidents, dependence on key personnel, labour pool constraints, labour disputes; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities; and other risks of the mining industry as well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Company's interim and annual financial statements and management's discussion and analysis of those statements, all of which are filed and available for review on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.  Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements.

National Instrument 43-101 Compliance

Unless otherwise indicated, Capstone has prepared the technical information in this news release ("Technical Information") based on information contained in the technical reports, news releases and MD&A's (collectively the "Disclosure Documents") available under Capstone Mining Corp.'s company profile on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com. Each Disclosure Document was prepared by or under the supervision of a qualified person (a "Qualified Person") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101").  Readers are encouraged to review the full text of the Disclosure Documents which qualifies the Technical Information.  Readers are advised that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.  The Disclosure Documents are each intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context.  The Technical Information is subject to the assumptions and qualifications contained in the Disclosure Documents.

The disclosure of the Technical Information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by, John Sagman, P. Eng., Capstone's Vice President, Technical Services a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. In addition, Gregg Bush, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Capstone, reviewed all Technical Information in this news release.

For further information:
Capstone Mining Corp.
Cindy Burnett, VP, Investor Relations
Telephone: +1-604-637-8157
Email: cburnett@capstonemining.com
Website: http://www.capstonemining.com