Capstone Publishes 2020 Sustainability Report

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Capstone Mining Corp. (“Capstone” or the “Company”) (TSX:CS) is pleased to announce that it has published its “Sustainable Thinking: Seeing Beyond” 2020 Sustainability Report (the “Sustainability Report” or the “Report”). The Sustainability Report is Capstone’s fifth full sustainability report and was prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") Standards, Core option. The Report provides details relating to the Company’s programs and performance on topics material to Capstone’s two operating mines: Pinto Valley in Arizona, USA, and Cozamin, in Zacatecas, Mexico, as well as the Santo Domingo project in Chile. The Report follows the publication of an Interim Sustainability Summary in October 2020, for the period January 1, 2018 – June 30, 2020.

Darren Pylot, Capstone’s President and CEO commented, "Our 2020 Sustainability Report reaffirms our unwavering commitment to sustainability and is a reflection of the key role that sustainability improvements play in our business and our long term goal of creating value for all stakeholders. Seeing Beyond translates into continuously improving our sustainability programs and utilizing technology to achieve ambitious ESG goals, even in the face of extraordinary challenges such as the unprecedented COVID-19 world pandemic that still poses a risk to the health and safety of our stakeholders. I am proud of our team’s dedication and resilience throughout last year and I thank each of the members of the Capstone family for presenting a united front and delivering on our business objectives responsibly, safely and sustainably."

2020 Sustainability Report Highlights

Health & Safety	Achieved a Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) of 0.12 and a Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR) of 0.35, better than the consolidated lagging indicator objectives for 2020 Installed the Calicanto one-way ramp at the Cozamin underground mine to alleviate traffic congestion and reduce vehicle-to-vehicle hazards, thereby improving underground safety
COVID-19 Response	Implemented COVID-19 protocols to protect the health and safety of our workforce and local communities Assessed potential health and business impacts across our operations along with evolving guidance from government authorities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization
Environmental Compliance	Zero reportable environmental incidents No environmental fines or non-monetary sanctions Cozamin completed a successful Clean Industry Certification audit
Economic Impacts	Increased annual consolidated production by 2.3% from 153.4 to 156.9 million pounds of copper Piloted technology by completing a first trial of Jetti Resources catalytic technology to recover copper from waste rock dumps and lower-grade rock
Mining Waste	No significant changes to the amounts of tailings generated relative to throughput at Pinto Valley and Cozamin Advanced the design of new dry stack tailings storage facility and underground paste backfill system at Cozamin to align with industry best practices
Water	Increased water conservation rates despite increased production Used water modelling to explore evaporation mitigation strategies at Pinto Valley and to focus plans for a filtered tailings plant at Cozamin Successfully completed pilot test using Eriez Hydrofloat at Pinto Valley that allows for coarser grinding of ore and greater water recovery before evaporation
Employment	Reduced employee turnover 20% of executive direct reports to the CEO are women 11% of our workforce are women; in line with overall mining industry levels
Human Rights	Implemented a global Human Rights Policy to broaden and deepen the Human Rights commitment in the Code of Conduct and provide a foundation to manage Human Rights and define next steps

Capstone’s 2020 Sustainability Report is a testament to the Company’s annual commitment to transparent disclosure on non-financial performance across the material topics identified by the Company's internal and external stakeholder engagement process. The 2020 Sustainability Report and accompanying performance data and GRI Index are available to download on Capstone’s website at https://capstonemining.com/responsibility/. A Spanish version will be available soon.

ABOUT CAPSTONE MINING CORP.

Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company, focused on copper. We are committed to the responsible development of our assets and the environments in which we operate. Our two producing mines are the Pinto Valley copper mine located in Arizona, US and the Cozamin copper-silver mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico. In addition, Capstone owns 100% of Santo Domingo, a large scale, fully permitted, copper-iron-gold project in Region III, Chile, as well as a portfolio of exploration properties. Capstone's strategy is to focus on the optimization of operations and assets in politically stable, mining-friendly regions, centred in the Americas. Our headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and we are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Further information is available at www.capstonemining.com.

Caution on Forward-Looking Information

Capstone Mining Corp. (the “Company”) cautions readers regarding forward-looking statements found in this news release (including the documents incorporated by reference herein) and in any other statement made by, or on the behalf of the Company. Except for statements of historical fact, information contained in this news release and the documents incorporated by reference herein, constitutes “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”). Forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “seek”, “anticipate”, “plan”, “continue”, “planned”, “expect”, “project”, “predict”, “potential”, “targeting”, “intends”, “believe”, and similar expressions, or describes a “goal”, or variation of such words and phrases or states that certain actions, events or results “may”, “should”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved.

Forward-looking statements in the 2020 Sustainability Report include, but are not limited to: statements relating to our sustainability strategy; short-term and long-term sustainability goals; strategic priorities and our goals, targets, commitments and plans and our expectations regarding those goals, targets, commitments and plans, including but not limited to our water policy goals and energy goals; expected timing of progress of water conservation projects; the expected timing and success of the underground paste backfill system study and tailings filtration project at Cozamin, the Pinto Valley HydroFloat project; the success of our use of the Jetti technology; the timing and success of the Cobalt Study for Santo Domingo, estimated timing and spending to achieve our goals; and expectations regarding the conduct of our suppliers and contractors.

The forward-looking statements in the 2020 Sustainability Report are based on a number of estimates, projections, beliefs and assumptions the management team believed to be reasonable as of the date of the Report, though inherently uncertain and difficult to predict, including but not limited to expectations and assumptions concerning: the development and performance of technology; our ability to attract and retain skilled employees; environmental compliance costs generally; and assumptions regarding the development of our business generally. Risks and uncertainties that could influence actual results include, but are not limited to: risks associated with the consequence of climate-change; risks associated with permitting and development of our properties; operational problems; regulatory action; environmental compliance challenges; changes in laws and governmental regulations; costs of compliance with environmental and other laws and regulation; risks relating to the development and use of new technology or lack of appropriate technologies needed to advance our goals; natural disasters and adverse weather conditions, changes in commodity prices; geotechnical challenges; global crises and pandemics; changes in carrying values of our assets; dependence on the availability of water; operations in foreign countries; general business and economic conditions and the future operation and financial performance of the company generally.

We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors and assumptions is not exhaustive. Other events or circumstances could cause our actual results to differ materially from those estimated or projected and expressed in the 2020 Sustainability Report including without limitation, those referred to in the Company’s Annual Information Form, the Company’s short form prospectus, and in the Company’s interim and annual financial statements and MD&A, all of which are filed and available for review under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Accordingly, readers and investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend to update forward-looking statements, except as required by law). There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.